Every operating mine in Australia: what the data actually looks like

There are 349 operating mines in Australia right now. Not exploration tenements. Not historical workings. Operating mines — producing ore, employing people, buying equipment, paying suppliers.

Most B2B sales teams selling into resources have no structured view of that landscape. They have a spreadsheet someone put together two years ago or a list from Google. This is what a proper mine site dataset looks like and who actually uses it.

What is in the dataset

The Prospect Signal AU Mining Intelligence Database is built from Geoscience Australia operating mines registry, cross-referenced with state tenement registers across WA, QLD, NSW, SA, VIC, TAS, NT, and the Australian Business Register.

Each row: site name · GA mine ID · parent company · site operator · legal entity name and ABN · commodity and category · state and region · GPS coordinates (latitude/longitude).

349 rows. Zero placeholder coordinates. 137 unique parent companies.

The commodity split

State distribution

Why the parent and operator split matters

A mine might be operated by a subsidiary you have never heard of, but the procurement decision sits at the parent level. The dataset carries both — so you target the right entity, not just the tenement register name.

Example: Appin coal mine, NSW. Operating entity is Illawarra Metallurgical Coal. The parent was South32 — until the entire division was sold to GM3 (the Golden Energy & Resources / M Resources joint venture) in 2024. If your list still says South32, it is two years stale. Ours says GM3, with an evidence URL on the row.

137 parent companies in total. The large miners — BHP, Rio Tinto, South32, Newmont, Glencore, Anglo American, Fortescue — account for a significant share, but over 100 mid-tier and junior operators with active production receive far less sales attention and are often easier to engage.

Who uses this data

• Fleet leasing and vehicle finance — mine sites run large fleets; decisions made at operator level, refreshed on cycle
• Explosives and blasting supplies — every metalliferous mine is a potential customer; commodity type drives purchasing frequency
• Labour hire and workforce management — constant demand for FIFO, contract, and specialist labour
• PPE and safety equipment — mandatory procurement cycles in a regulated industry
• Mining software and technology — ERP, scheduling, compliance, asset management, geospatial
• Fuel card providers
• Engineering and maintenance contractors
• Insurance brokers

The alternative

Generic mining company lists from data brokers — sourced from Yellow Pages, no commodity data, no parent/operator split, 30% stale contacts. Or build it yourself from GA data, state tenement registers, ASIC, and ABR, which takes weeks and requires reconciling entity names across six government datasets. We did that part.