The Deloitte September 2012 Quarterly Australian Mining League table highlighted the drop in market capitalisations of iron ore miners and the rise of gold miners.

Iron ore dominates the top 25 ASX-listed mining companies, accounting for around 65% of 2011 earnings, followed by copper and gold (20%) and coal (10%).

“It is no surprise that the combined market capitalisation of the top 25 has therefore been weighted down by the sharp decline in iron ore prices experienced during the quarter, with China’s uncertain demand continuing to impact Australian iron ore producers’ performance,” Deloitte said.

Fortescue Metals Group had a difficult September quarter, with its market capitalisation falling to $A10.9 billion from $15.3 billion, a 28.8% slump.

The steep drop in iron ore prices at the time of expansion for the company caused concerns over its heavy debt load.

FMG was overtaken by gold miner AngloGold Ashanti, which snatched the fourth spot on the table behind BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Newcrest Mining respectively.

BHP’s market cap grew by 5%, while Rio Tinto’s fell 6%.

Atlas Iron’s market cap fell by just over 30% during the quarter.

Iron ore companies Arrium and Sundance Resources fell out of the top 25 all together, as did Paladin Energy.

Arrium fell by 17 places to 40.

On the flip side, the three new entries were gold miners Resolute Mining, Medusa Mining and St Barbara.

St Barbara was standout, growing its market cap by more than 80% and increasing 15 places to sneak into the top 25 by the end of September.

“St Barbara’s acquisition of Allied Gold was completed in September and the company’s share price continued to rally,” Deloitte said.

“Investors’ appetite for gold was reiterated by the other new entrants to the top 25, west and east African based Resolute Mining and the Philippines-based Medusa Mining.”

Gold miners added a combined $8 billion in market cap, with Newcrest Mining, Regis Resources and Alacer Gold growing by 28.8%, 46.4% and 34.6% respectively.

“Benchmark hard coking coal prices also improved during the quarter, although this has failed to translate into an improvement in share price for Whitehaven Coal, the largest pure coal producer listed on the ASX with a reasonable-sized free float,” Deloitte said.

“The withdrawal by the bid vehicle led by the Tinkler Group in late August 2012 further depressed the company’s share price, with the company trading at calendar year lows from late September into October.”

This article first appeared in ILN's sister publication MiningNews.net.