Speaking today at the Sydney Mining Club, Hegarty said there were still years to go in the trend of China’s urbanisation.

The decades ahead were tipped to be characterised by growing Asian mineral demand, increasingly met from the region’s largely underexploited prospectivity.

This will be funded with Asian capital and resourced with Australian technology and management skill.

“Australia and Asia are locked in a virtuous circle of economic growth and prosperity of which the resources industry is a driver and beneficiary,” Hegarty said in the text of a presentation.

“China and other emerging nations are driving demand for resources as their economies develop and pass the point of economic take-off to sustainable growth.”

Hegarty cited large areas of central and western China that were benefiting from relaxation of the Hukou system, which previously inhibited migration from farm to city.

As a result, mid-sized cities (with populations in the millions) will require massive housing and infrastructure development in years to come.

“The burgeoning middle class is accelerating consumption and we should see gradual structural reshaping,” Hegarty said.

“There is a social imperative for continued growth.”

Slides in the presentation illustrated that China’s consumption of base metals was about half the peak reached by Japan and South Korea as they made their journeys to modernity and industrialisation.

Hegarty flagged Indonesia as the next “tiger economy” in the Asia-Pacific region, noting a large, young population on track to result in a middle class of 140 million people by 2020.

India was also singled out as a regional hotspot for development, although uneven in its near-term potential.

Pockets of potential on the subcontinent include the Maharashtra state, which accounted for 15% of the national industrial output and 35% of foreign investment into India.

The southern region of Tamil Nadu was also highlighted as a leader in automobiles and components.

Hegarty said much of the increased demand from these countries would be met within the Asia-Pacific region, allowing a historic opportunity for Australia, provided the country could overcome a recent decline in exploration and overregulation regarding access to skilled labour.

“We can be a pivotal supplier in a multi-decade wave of development, bringing benefits to all the states and cities that host this diverse expertise,” he said.

“It is already worth $20 billion-plus a year – and the big opportunities are ahead.”