By: Re exploration

When you look beyond the headlines about lithium and rare earths, you'll find the true financial backbone of global mining. While the energy transition drives intense focus on critical minerals, the reality is that your portfolio or economy is still most impacted by traditional bulk commodities. From 2000 to 2023, metals and mining revenues grew by $1.7 trillion, with the entire sector now making up about 7% of global GDP. Yet, if you follow the money, metals directly for decarbonization, even including copper, account for less than 15% of that revenue. In contrast, the thermal coal and steel you might hear less about actually constitute 60–70% of the pie, with staggering annual production over 9 billion tonnes.

Building the mines that produce this bulk volume requires some of the most colossal investments on the planet. These are projects where you risk billions over decades before seeing a return, but the payoff can be generational. To understand this scale, consider the ten most capital-intensive projects:

1. Wa’ad Al Shamal in Saudi Arabia (Phosphate, ~$22.7B) led the industry's spending.
2. Simandou in Guinea (Iron Ore, >$20B) is a legendary project finally moving ore.
3. Serra Sul in Brazil (Iron Ore, $19.5B) is a massive, truckless operation.
4. Carmichael in Australia (Coal, $15-20B proposal) was dramatically scaled down.
5. Lac Otelnuk in Canada (Iron Ore, $14.2B) remains a vast, paused deposit.
6. Jansen in Canada (Potash, $14B total) is BHP's huge bet on fertilizer.
7. Sino-Iron in Australia (Iron Ore, $12B final cost) saw budgets balloon.
8. Rio Colorado in Argentina (Potash, $6-11B estimate) was abandoned and restarted.
9. Minas Rio in Brazil (Iron Ore, $8.8B) survived major cost overruns.
10. Roy Hill in Australia (Iron Ore, $7.5B) is Gina Rinehart's flagship success.

As you can see, the list is dominated by iron ore, phosphate, coal, and potash. These projects show you that in mining, the biggest bets are still on the commodities that build infrastructure and feed the world, not just the ones that power batteries.