Iron ore exploration tumbles

By Sean Decoff | 13 April 2017

Iron ore budgets fell again in 2016, but iron ore prices enjoyed some gains after hitting decade lows in 2015. Using data compiled during analysis of the nonferrous commodities-focused Corporate Exploration Strategies (CES) study, S&P Global Market Intelligence identified at least 131 companies that budgeted a total of US$454 million for iron ore exploration, compared with 175 companies budgeting about US$763 million in 2015. This represents a year-on-year drop of US$310 million, or 41%, which is considerably more than the overall decline of 21% for nonferrous commodities. Iron ore's 2016 exploration budget is down a staggering 84% from the peak of US$2.9 billion in 2012.

Of the companies exploring for iron ore in 2016, the top 10 accounted for 57% of the total budget. The top three explorers remained the same: BHP Billiton's (BHPB) continues in top place with a US$92.0 million allocation, followed by Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto with US$36.0 million and US$29.5 million allocations respectively.

This report examines:

Regional allocation of iron ore exploration budgets
Iron ore exploration budgets by stage of development
Top iron ore explorers by region and stage of development
Iron ore share of the worldwide exploration budgets in 2016

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Iron ore exploration tumbles

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