Gold exploration spending in Australia has jumped 45% over the past year, with the September quarter showing the strongest levels since late 2023, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows.

Exploration expenditure on gold rose 7.2% quarter-on-quarter to A$431.5-million, up sharply from A$297.5-million in the September 2024 quarter. The uplift was driven by heightened activity in New South Wales and South Australia, the ABS said.

Total mineral exploration expenditure across all commodities reached A$1.07-billion in the September quarter, a 5.7% increase on the June period and 5% higher than a year earlier. It is the highest quarterly spend since the December 2023 quarter.

Drilling volumes softened slightly, with total metres drilled falling 1.5% quarter-on-quarter to 2 835.5 km, though activity remained 8.5% higher than in the same period last year.

Greenfield exploration spending rose 5.7% from the June quarter to A$270.5-million, although it remained 2.1% below the prior September period. Western Australia again dominated spending on new discoveries, while Queensland and the Northern Territory recorded the biggest quarter-on-quarter increases, up 26.9% and 36.3% respectively. Greenfield drilling rose to 644.1 km from 597.8 km in the June quarter.

Brownfield activity continued to outpace frontier work, with expenditure climbing 5.7% to A$797.4-million – now three times the spend on greenfield programmes. Brownfield drilling totalled 2 191.3 km.

Alongside the gold surge, uranium exploration also accelerated, rising 20.3% nationally and increasing 173% in the Northern Territory.

Association of Mining and Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce said the figures underlined the resilience of the gold sector. “Gold has proven itself to be an outstanding and resilient performer in maintaining explorer interest, buoyed obviously by recent gold price highs and the continuing uncertainties seen in global markets,” he said.

Pearce added that sustained investment in early-stage exploration remained essential. “As an industry it is critical we continue to build a pipeline of discoveries and this requires a dollar commitment to greenfields exploration and a recognition by governments of the importance of new projects to ensure the future economic prosperity of the nation remains secure and achievable.”