Ten Years of Explorer Reports: Spotlight on Commodity Trends (BDO)

Summary

• In the December 2021 quarter, financing inflows to the Australian exploration sector peaked at $3.75 billion, the highest level seen.p.4
• Financing inflows in 2015 averaged $1.0 billion each quarter before contracting by 48% to $535 million in March 2016.p.3
• Financing inflows fell by 48% to a four-year low of $834 million in the March 2020 quarter.p.4
• Fund Finders, companies raising $10 million or more in a quarter, usually account for between 70% and 80% of total funds raised.p.5
• From 2015 to 2023, gold Fund Finders raised $8.9 billion, representing 23.3% of all Fund Finder funds raised.p.7
• Lithium secured $2 billion in 2021, a record, and became the top Fund Finder in 2021 and 2022.p.12
• Rare earths funding rose from $12 million in 2015 to a record $699 million in 2022.p.18

Key insights

1. From 2020 to the second quarter of 2023, oil and gas explorers only raised $1.5 billion, representing 6.6% of total Fund Finder funds raised.p.9
2. Cobalt funding spiked to $344 million and $529 million in 2021 and 2022, largely sourced by Jervois.p.15
3. Graphite exploration funding fell from $223 million in 2015 to $55 million in 2020, then rose to a peak of $593 million in 2022.p.16
4. Uranium Fund Finders secured $475 million and $503 million in 2021 and 2022 respectively.p.20
5. Sulphate of potash funding reached $528 million in 2020 but only $63 million was raised in 2022.p.22
6. Tamboran Resources announced on 12 October 2023 its intention to re-domicile to the US to access deeper capital markets.p.9