Minerals, Gemstones & Quarry Materials
Queensland is rich in copper, lead, silver, zinc, bauxite, phosphate rock, magnesite and silica sand. It is also the world's largest seaborne coal exporter.
The state encourages private, corporate, foreign and domestic investment in establishing internationally competitive and export-oriented resource industries.
Despite Queensland's proven record in exploration and development of significant mineral and energy resources, many areas of the state are still highly prospective, with opportunities for further exploration.
Gemstones
Significant deposits of sapphire, opal and chrysoprase are mined commercially in Queensland. However, there is no large-scale commercial mining for diamonds, rubies or emeralds.
The Department of Mines and Energy is responsible for the Acts which regulate fossicking in Queensland.
View an Interactive Resource and Tenure Map for spatial information on Queensland gemstones.
Quarry or extractive resources (sand, gravel, quarry rock and fill) are the primary source of material for road construction, concrete, rail ballast, armour stone, fill and horticultural use which are vital for Queensland's infrastructure needs.
They are excluded from the definition of minerals in the Mineral Resources Act 1989 (Qld), and approval for their extraction is subject to a variety of legislation, depending on background land tenure. However, most major extraction sites are on freehold land and are administered under the Integrated Planning Act 1997. View a list of major extractive industry operations (PDF, 72 kB) and a map of major extractive materials sites (PDF, 210 kB) throughout the state.
To ensure future viability of extractive resources, the Department of Mines and Energy and the Department of Local Government, Planning , Sport and Recreation have developed the State Planning Policy 2/07 Protection of Extractive Resources.
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