Despite tougher equity market conditions for juniors, exploration expenditure rose 0.8% quarter-on-quarter and 1.1% year-on-year to A$1.039 billion, seasonally adjusted, or by 0.5% QoQ and 2% YoY to $1.035 billion on a trend basis.
It represented the highest ever spend for a June quarter and a huge increase from the $344.6 million spent in the June quarter of 2016.
"Australian mineral exploration had a record June quarter in 2023, $8 million higher than the previous record of June 2012, as well as the second-highest value to date for overall expenditure, only being surpassed by September 2022," Association of Mining and Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce said.
Explorers spent $751.6 million on existing deposits and $318.3 million on new deposits.
Metres drilled fell 3.9%, seasonally adjusted, to 2698.8km, but rose 16.8% to 2840.5km in original terms.
Base metals exploration rose to a record $282.8 million, while iron ore and coal exploration rose.
"Nationally, copper was the big performer for the June quarter, recording a record high $176 million in expenditure," Pearce said.
"This is off the back of record copper expenditure in both New South Wales and South Australia, with $24 million (up 15% QoQ) and $43.9 million (up 33%) respectively."
Exploration for "all others", which includes many critical minerals, reached a record $205.9 million, up from just $47 million in the June quarter of 2015.
Exploration for gold dipped to $315.2 million, the lowest since 2020.
Pearce noted total exploration in NSW rose 25% to a record $97.9 million, while SA exploration was up 15% to $72.1 million.
Queensland exploration rose by 29% QoQ to $147.8 million, driven by strong copper and gold exploration.
Exploration in the Northern Territory was up 27% to $48.6 million as the wet season concluded.
Western Australia continued its dominance with a second best-ever quarter of expenditure of $648.5 million, just below the June 2022 quarter.
Exploration in Victoria fell 9% to $43 million.
"Australian mineral exploration remains historically strong with a record June quarter," Pearce said.
