Australia Says Resources Investment Hits Records on Asian Demand
This article is for subscribers only.
Mineral exploration spending in Australia, the world’s biggest iron ore exporter, reached a record in March and has risen 35 percent since a new policy to tax carbon was unveiled last year, the government said.
Spending rose 12 percent to a record A$1.086 billion ($1.09 billion) in the March quarter and the investment pipeline in the resources industry reached an estimated A$500 billion on demand from Asia, Treasurer Wayne Swan said in his weekly economic note yesterday. The tax on carbon emissions, starting July 1, will reap about A$6.5 billion over two years from the country’s biggest mining companies including BHP Billiton Ltd.