Where Mining is Thriving

After the Extinction Rebellion protests earlier this month, Australia saw another major climate-related blockade in October when demonstrators congregated outside the International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne this week. Australia has, in fact, recently experienced increasing emissions. Mining, as well, is in on the rise in the country. Between 2000 and 2017, the latest year on record, mining output grew by 132.6 percent in Oceania, with almost everything being excavated in Australia. This was the highest increase in the world. Australia is also the fourth largest miner in the world by output and the fifth largest by monetary value.

Because of the large Australian mining sector, Oceania is also one of the biggest contributors to mining worldwide, on par with Latin America and Europe. The biggest mining region in the world by far is Asia, which excavated almost 10 billion metric tons in 2017, followed by North America with around 2.5 billion tons. While in North America, mining output only grew by 8.6 percent since 2000, rates in Europe declined by 16.7 percent.