Page 10 - NEWGEN21-Proceedings-Full

Based on figures compiled by Surbiton Associates, Australia’s gold production has exceeded 10 million ounces per annum
for the past three financial years with a record of 10.55 million ounces produced in 2019/20 just exceeding 2018/19 and
1997/98, all of 22 years earlier! Of interest is that over the six months ending 30 June this year Australia finally exceeded

China as the world’s No1 gold producer, a position it has held since 2007. It remains to be seen whether this ranking can be
maintained especially in the light of the outstanding discovery achievements we will be hearing about in the next two days.

Suffice to say that the buoyant conditions being experienced by gold producers from increased production, revenues and
consequent cash flows have resulted in a very substantial increase in gold exploration budgets. Additionally, smaller sized

explorers have benefited from vastly improved investor sentiment resulting in substantially increased amounts of funds
raised. It is also noteworthy that in the past two years the healthy cash flows and elevated fund raising has resulted in an

increased emphasis on greenfields exploration. This can only augur well for the discovery process.

This fortuitous combination has had a dramatic effect on the level of gold exploration in this country as reflected in ABS

statistics. As is evident on the red graph, since 2016/17 the nation’s gold exploration expenditure has more than doubled,
while in the 2020/21 financial year it has risen to a staggering unprecedented high of 1.53 billion dollars! The stars are

indeed aligned in the realm of gold production and exploration to the marked benefit of the Australian economy. We are in
the midst of one of the most substantial gold booms in the nation’s history.