Australia's economic landscape has witnessed a significant surge, thanks to the impactful contribution of precompetitive geoscience data and analysis.
According to a report by Deloitte Access Economics, commissioned by Geoscience Australia, this segment of data contributed a staggering $76 billion to the economy during the 2021-22 fiscal year, representing 3.5% of the nation's GDP.
The majority of the funds came from resource extraction, which singlehandedly contributed a staggering $70.5 billion in direct economic value, bolstering employment with 55,549 FTE jobs in the year under review.
Meanwhile, the exploration and mining support services sector accounted for $5.5 billion and the government's active role in producing precompetitive geoscience data made a direct economic contribution of $71 million.
The study spanned the entire value chain: from data creation, through resource exploration, and finally to the extraction process.
[NEW RELEASE] Precompetitive geoscientific data and analysis we have undertaken with our state and territory geological survey counterparts has generated almost $76 billion of value to the Australian economy and >80,000 FTE jobs in 2021-22 ???? https://t.co/lJmH9c8hGa.#EFTF pic.twitter.com/Bpclg3UeAF— Geoscience Australia (@GeoscienceAus) August 15, 2023
Starting point for resource exploration
Precompetitive geoscience data and analysis is widely used as a starting point for resource exploration to identify areas with the greatest resource potential.
Identifying new deposits is the first step toward developing new mine sites.
Hence, the greatest value of precompetitive geoscience data and analysis is realised by supporting resource extraction.
Key driver of Australia’s prosperity
The resources industry is a key driver of Australia’s economic prosperity.
The industry – which includes mining, oil and gas and exploration and mining services – accounted for 18% of Australia’s gross dome and employed 200,000 people in 2021–22.
This success is driven by a significant resource endowment, a skilled labour force, substantial capital investment, and the availability of world-class precompetitive geoscience data and analysis that supports the resources industry in discovering and extracting resources.