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Energy exploration has picked up sharply in Australia driven by growing Asian gas demand, technological advances and an improved investment climate, with the Iran war underscoring the urgency to develop supply, after years of sluggish spending.

Quarterly oil and gas exploration spending in Australia, the world's second-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer, hit a 10-year high of A$471-million ($329-million) in the March quarter, government data released in June shows.

Energy investment sentiment has improved in part following last year's election of a more supportive second-term Labor government, which faces pressure to fill a looming end-of-decade domestic gas shortfall without harming valuable LNG exports.

Spending is expected to increase about 10% in 2026 to more than $1-billion, according to Rystad Energy, although Canberra's move last month requiring that 20% of gas be set aside for domestic use has sparked industry backlash.

Much of the drilling is focused on three gas-rich regions: the Otway Basin offshore western Victoria, the Beetaloo shale in the Northern Territory, and the Taroom Trough in Queensland. Among them, the Otway is the most established and is close to existing infrastructure.

While the search for more gas and oil in recent years has been concentrated onshore, costlier and riskier offshore investment is on the rise.

"We're seeing renewed interest in frontier and unconventional plays as modern techniques de-risk development," said Krishan Pal Birda, vice president at Rystad Energy.

SHALE HOPES

In the Beetaloo, the territory government is pushing development of what it hopes can become an LNG-scale shale gas resource. It recently offered new acreage in the area for prospective explorers, along with co-funding.

Australia's second-largest gas producer Santos is set to drill three appraisal wells there this year.

In March, Japan's Inpex took a stake in a Beetaloo permit. Development of the Beetaloo could eventually provide the company with an onshore gas source for its Ichthys LNG plant in the Northern Territory's capital, Darwin.

Drilling in the Beetaloo has benefitted from the arrival of more powerful rigs, used by companies such as Tamboran Resources, capable of drilling long lateral wells with many fracking stages.

"Shale developers are the answer to the short supply in Australia," said Bryan Sheffield, a co-founder of US private equity firm Formentera Partners, which is working with Tamboran and invested along with Inpex.

Sheffield, who ran Parsley Energy focused on the giant US Permian shale, cited a more welcoming regional government. "They want Americans to come in," he said at the Australian Energy Producers conference in May, adding that officials want the US service companies and flex rigs.

"I think the experience of Texas is very relevant ... They prove that they're able to do massive multi-stage fracks," said Rick Wilkinson, CEO of advisory firm EnergyQuest.

Not all are convinced on the Beetaloo's development. Bill Hare, the founder of Climate Analytics, raised concern that drilling the vast shale resources could be "very destructive", due to the impact on the land and emissions when gas is burned.

"Quite apart from the climate issue, the water demands are huge in an extremely arid region," Hare said.

SUCCESS, DISAPPOINTMENT AND SURPRISES

In the Otway, exploration has jumped, with companies sharing rigs to cut costs, but their campaigns have had mixed results.

"There is a lot more activity in the Otway than we've seen in years," Amplitude Energy CEO Jane Norman told Reuters.

US major ConocoPhillips drilled two wells in late 2025, the country's first offshore wildcat wells in several years, with one well yielding gas, while a second found gas but not at the l...

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

Okiep in South Africa's well-endowed Northern Cape is becoming the copper gift that just keeps on giving, with yet another new Intercept confirming copper continuity.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Orion Minerals described the results being generated from its resource optimisation drilling programme as validating its development strategy.

As part of the current drilling campaign at the Okiep Copper Project Flat Mine East prospect, the completed second drill hole completed, taking in the OFMED158 intersection. (Also see above graphic).

These assay results confirm the down-dip continuity previously revealed by the OFMED157 drill hole, which uplift understanding of the structural controls to mineralised mafic units. They build on the good outcomes of the 2024 confirmation drilling programme, which highlighted the endowment of the Flat Mines area, where the latest results are exemplified by the numbers 3.96m at 4.64% copper.

"These outstanding new high-grade drilling results from the Okiep Copper Project further strengthen the potential upside at Flat Mine East," Orion CEO Tony Lennox explained.

"Crucially, this exciting intersection further extends the recently identified high-grade copper zone down-dip and shows that it remains open at depth. The continuity of these high-grade intercepts provides compelling support to extend the geological model and increase the size of the deposit.

"Importantly, it confirms that the mineralised system remains open and continues well beyond the current mineral resource envelope and block model. These results further reinforce the quality and growth potential of the Flat Mines area as a cornerstone of Orion's broader Okiep development strategy and will directly inform the next phase of our resource optimisation drilling programme," Lennox outlined in a media release to Mining Weekly on Monday, June 29.

These results provide strong support for follow-up drilling. By integrating these results with insights from an ongoing geophysical survey, Orion can further refine drill targets and enhance the potential for discovery success across the broader Flat Mine East area.

The Okiep Copper Project's 703 km2 ground holdings encompass most of the Okiep copper mining district, where 105-million tons of extraction has taken place over the past 100 years, 77-million tons of it from the project's prospecting and mining rights area.

Current drilling offers the potential for additional mineral resources at Flat Mines, where past drilling has proven up extensions and infill potential.

Sampling has been carried out using diamond drilling procedures in sampling areas that have been selected through visual observation and handheld analyser reading.

Interestingly, metallurgical test work is being undertaken by Maelgwyn on the Okiep Copper Project's Flat Mines South deposit amid previous test work having been limited to the Flat Mines North and Flat Mines East areas.

The current programme is designed to validate the performance of the proposed process flowsheet for the resources of Flat Mines South.

Dewatering of Flat Mines North has commenced, following completion of the building of a new wastewater dam.

During the three months to March 31, value engineering, operational readiness and critical skills identification took place for project execution at Orion's Prieska copper/zinc mine, also in the Northern Cape. The Prieska mine, located near Copperton, is on a major volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit.

A definitive feasibility study has outlined an accelerated development strategy. This is based on an initial "Uppers" mining operation at a rate of 20 000 t a month as well as dewatering in preparation for the "Deeps" mining phase at a production rate of 200 000 t a month.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer notes that Sibanye-Stillwater’s CEO has declares the company’s South African platinum assets the ‘world’s best’; he discusses Deputy President Paul Mashatile's recent working trip to China over hydrogen energy and fuel cell technologies; and th

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday it has seen energy and commodity prices fall since the US-Iran agreement to halt hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but it will take time for prices and Gulf trade flows to normalize.

IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack told a news briefing that in the next update of its World Economic Outlook on July 8, the Fund will decide whether to continue with the three growth scenarios it presented in April that depended on Iran war outcomes.

As the Strait of Hormuz remained closed in May, keeping benchmark oil prices above $100 a barrel, Kozack had said the global economy was moving from the more benign "reference forecast," which had assumed a quick end to the conflict, to an "adverse scenario" with 2.5% global growth for 2026.

The adverse scenario assumed a full-year 2026 average oil price of $100 a barrel, but also a tightening of financial conditions and rising inflation expectations.

Kozack said on Thursday that inflationary expectations have been well anchored, as some central banks have moved to raise interest rates, and financial conditions have remained accommodative, with both advanced and emerging market countries able to access international financing markets.

Benchmark Brent crude oil futures for August delivery traded around $73 a barrel on Thursday, their lowest level since before the February 28 start of the US-backed war with Iran.

Kozack also said prices for urea, other fertilizers and base metals had fallen with the resumption of shipments from Gulf countries, but it will take time for full normalization of prices and trade because of shipping lead times to final destinations.

"So this means that there will be some time before we ... go back to a normal state, and of course that all assumes that the ceasefire remains in place," Kozack said.

She added the IMF is most concerned about the conflict's impact on developing countries that are net energy importers with few fiscal reserves or stockpiles of oil and other commodities, especially in Africa.

Asked about the war's impact on India, Kozack said India's domestic demand remained strong, with real GDP growth projected at 6.5% for the 2026/27 fiscal year.

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

The construction of the first phase of the Nyanza Light Metals plant to advance ilmenite up the value curve in the form of titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment has begun at the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ) in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.

Nyanza CEO Donovan Chimhandamba confirmed this to Mining Weekly on Thursday, June 25 at the Coatings for Africa show in the Sandton Convention Centre, where Nyanza is exhibiting. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video interview.)

Foundation piling works are in progress and the targeted date for the start of TiO2 production is the end of 2029.

The plant will process ilmenite produced from the mining of heavy mineral sands to produce the many-times-higher-priced TiO2 pigment for industrial coatings, architectural paints, paper and plastics.

A multi-phase industrial platform linking titanium beneficiation with downstream battery materials production is part of the overall design.

Nyanza has an engineering, procurement, construction and operations management contract with East China Engineering Science and Technology Company, a subsidiary of China National Chemical Engineering Group Company.

Firm offtake agreements are already in place.

The $870-million first phase TiO₂ project is being financed by Afreximbank and African Finance Corporation (AFC), together with pan-African and local development finance institutions.

An estimated 3 000 people are expected to be employed at the peak of Phase 1 construction and 850 permanent jobs created. The second phase is expected to generate 2 000 construction jobs and 600 permanent jobs.

A Phase 2 battery materials and advanced chemical project is planned as part of a $750-million downstream expansion.

Fully integrated with Phase 1, the second phase project will make use of process by-products. Planned is the production of lithium iron phosphate, zirconium oxychloride, and fumed silica. It is being designed as a closed-loop, high-value industrial materials platform.

The Phase 2 project has entered bankable feasibility study phase, which is expected to be completed in 2028 and advanced with the same engineering, procurement and construction contractor.

Project development and financing leadership will be by Afreximbank and AFC acting as co-mandated lead arrangers.

The project will be co-developed by Afreximbank, AFC and South Africa's State-owned Industrial Development Corporation, with support from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and the RBIDZ.

The overall strategic positioning of the initiative is designed to advance titanium beneficiation and value addition, downstream expansion into battery materials, export diversification and industrial deepening.

Its integration of mineral beneficiation with battery materials production is described by Nyanza as positioning South Africa within global energy transition, AI compute and advanced manufacturing value chains.

The vision is to link titanium resources to downstream applications in energy storage, electric mobility, advanced materials, AI and computing supply chains.