Investment in the mining industry has surged by a third in the past six months to a record $231.8 billion.
The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics latest Mining Industry Major Projects - October 2011 report, issued today, includes a record 102 projects at an advanced stage of development, including 40 minerals projects, 37 energy projects, 21 infrastructure projects and four mineral processing projects.
The figures come just before Treasurer Wayne Swan issues the mid-year Budget update, which will show the turmoil in Europe has helped strip a further $20 billion from revenue over the next four years. He is expected to reveal further cuts to spending.
Check back here after 11am for details of the mid-year budget update, where the Government cuts spending and how it will affect Canberra
The bureau's executive director, Professor Quentin Grafton, said the investment would underpin the medium and long-term growth od Australia's mining exports.
"Significant growth in coal, iron ore and gas exports are expected to occur over the medium and long term, underpinned by the capital investment that is occurring in these sectors" he said in a statement.
Oil and gas, iron ore and coal and associated infrastructure accounted for about 93 per cent of committed capital expenditure.
The big increase since the April report reflected the signing off of three liquid natural gas projects by Wheatstone, APLNG and Prelude, which have a collective capital cost of more than $50 billion.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said the value of advanced major resources projects was now 16 times the level of a decade ago, when the total value of advanced minerals and energy projects was just $14.3 billion.
"The figures released today are further evidence that the Government's resource taxation reforms are the right policy, at the right time, and are not posing an impediment to continued record investment in our resources sector," he said.
TD Securities strategist Annette Beacher said there would be some more "overdue good news on the 'speed' part of Australia's two-speed economy" tomorrow.
"The strong resource sector of the economy gets far less attention than it should, with too much emphasis on soft house prices and profit downgrades for the major retailers (the stall-speed part of the economy)," she said.
She predicted the Australian Bureau of Statistic's latest private capital expenditure survey - which looks at business investment plans - would show strong growth for the September quarter. It would also likely confirm mining investment would top $80 billion this year - four times that invested only five years ago.
"The first estimate for 2012-13 is not released until late February 2012, but expectations are shaping up to be another $80 billion or so as massive mining projects take years to establish," she said.
"A report from the Australian Treasury estimates that $430 billion of private business investment is on the cards and already underway, hence we cannot rule out a similar magnitude for the next two to three years at least. No other country has a private investment boom of this magnitude in the pipeline."
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