Putting the Scorecard into context
From the QEC Exploration Scorecard Working Group Chair
The 2025 Scorecard comes at a time when Queensland’s exploration sector is both showing signs of resilience and facing structural headwinds.
Exploration activity continues across a broad range of commodities, yet the indicators this year point to an increasingly cautious investment climate and a narrowing pipeline of new projects.
Expenditure declined in 2024-25, with total exploration falling 14.6% to $791.7 million. Greenfield mineral activity dropped to 21% of total spend, the lowest share in the Scorecard’s 15-year history. This retreat from new discoveries to brownfield exploration highlights a risk to the long-term project pipeline. Sentiment surveys reinforce this picture. Explorers and drillers cited inflation, environmental approvals, and policy uncertainty as the greatest barriers. Several respondents noted that environmental compliance preparation has in some cases exceeded technical preparation costs. Capital access remains difficult, particularly for juniors. In addition, the expected end of the Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) in 2027 drew disappointment from the sector, emphasising its role in supporting exploration activity. Queensland’s underlying prospectivity remains strong. Survey respondents again rated geology and precompetitive geoscience data as the sector’s most consistent positives. The Geological Survey of Queensland expanded its datasets in 2025 with new airborne geophysical surveys, high-resolution mapping, and drill core collections, all of which lower entry risk and improve exploration targeting. Signs of incremental regulatory progress are also visible. The Resources Cabinet Committee has begun implementing streamlining recommendations, and a review of the land release framework has potential to improve transparency and responsiveness. New gas areas were released for exploration in 2025, signalling government intent to expand supply. Notably, of the negatively rated sentiment categories, the vast majority (10 out of 15) showed improvement compared to last year, even if they remain negative overall. The most significant gains were seen in Departmental assistance, land available for exploration, and approvals. Industry is in turn responding to these changes with higher spending expectations compared to last year. Explorer’s activity levels are expected to grow in the next 12 months with 44% of respondents predicting a greater than 10% increase compared to the 35% expecting a decrease.
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