A Comprehensive Dataset for Australian Mine Production, 1799 to 2021

Given that metals, minerals and energy resources extracted through mining are fundamental to human society, it follows that accurate data describing mine production are equally important. Although there are often national statistical sources, this typically includes data for metals (e.g., gold), minerals (e.g., iron ore) or energy resources (e.g., coal). No such study has ever compiled a national mine production data set which includes basic mining data such as ore processed, grades, extracted products (e.g., metals, concentrates, saleable ore) and waste rock. These data are crucial for geological assessments of mineable resources, environmental impacts, material flows (including losses during mining, smelting-refining, use and disposal or recycling) as well as facilitating more quantitative assessments of critical mineral potential (including possible extraction from tailings and/or waste rock left by mining). This data set achieves these needs for Australia, providing a world-first and comprehensive review of a national mining industry and an exemplar of what can be achieved for other countries with mining industry sectors.鉴于通过采矿活动获取的金属、矿物与能源资源是人类社会的基础支撑，精准描述矿山生产状况的数据集同样具有至关重要的意义。尽管各国普遍设有国家级统计数据源，但此类数据通常仅覆盖金属（如黄金）、矿物（如铁矿石）或能源资源（如煤炭）的相关统计信息。迄今为止，尚未有研究构建过包含选矿量、矿石品位、采出产品（如金属、精矿、可售矿石）以及废石等基础采矿数据的国家级矿山生产数据集。此类数据对于可采矿资源的地质评估、环境影响评价、物质流核算（涵盖采矿、冶炼精炼、产品使用、处置或回收各环节的损耗）均具备关键作用，同时也可为关键矿产潜力的量化评估提供支撑，包括对采矿遗留尾矿和/或废石中潜在矿产的提取可行性评估。本数据集针对澳大利亚满足了上述应用需求，完成了全球范围内首份全面的国家级采矿业系统梳理，可为其他拥有采矿业的国家提供可参考的实践范本。