Data from the Mining Industry Major Projects—October 2011 report released today by the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics shows committed investment has soared from $A173.5 billion in April to $231.8 billion in October.

The $231.8 billion consists of a record 102 projects at an advanced stage of development including 40 mineral projects, 37 energy projects, 21 infrastructure projects and four mineral processing projects.

During the six–month period, five mineral projects were completed costing $6.5 billion all up.

The largest project was BHP Billiton’s Iron Ore Rapid Growth Project 5 at a capital cost of $5.65 billion, which will increase capacity by a further 50 million tonnes per annum.

Meanwhile, construction of Atlantic’s Windimurra Vanadium project has been wrapped up at a capital cost of $598 million with first production from the project tipped for the current quarter, while Lynas Corporation completed phase 1 of operations for the Mt Weld rare earths project for $264 million.

Gold Fields completed its St Ives gold mine at a cost of $100 million and St Barbara commissioned its King of the Hills gold mine for $20–25 million.

Western Australia accounted for around 64% of spending on advanced projects followed by Queensland which made up 30%.

There were a further 302 projects which were at various stages of planning prior to a final investment decision.