The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has endorsed the 2025–26 Northern Territory (NT) Budget, suggesting it recognises the importance of the state’s mining industry.
The NT Government has invested $2.74 billion into infrastructure, including highway upgrades in the Tennant Creek to Townsville Road corridor ($57.5 million) and upgrades to the Sandover Highway ($28 million) and Carpentaria Highway ($8.5 million).
The MCA said this will help to address infrastructure deficits and unlock some of the Territory’s untapped mineral potential.
“Initial design works for a new Industrial Subdivision Parnttali in Tennant Creek is an important investment in developing much-needed common-user infrastructure in the Barkly region,” MCA Northern Territory executive director Cathryn Tilmouth said.
“The MCA welcomes the ongoing investment in exploration through the Northern Territory Geological Survey at $9.5 million per annum including co-funding of projects and pre-competitive geoscience information to encourage exploration.”
The NT Government plans to return the budget to surplus in 2027–28. In order to get there, the MCA believes the state needs to focus on attracting investment in mining projects.
The MCA believes this will create long-term sources of revenue and grow the economy, while providing the funds to support the services Territorians need.
The Budget has also committed $9.5 million per annum through the Northern Territory Geological Survey to support the co-funding projects to encourage exploration.
Programs such as this are key to increasing the Territory’s attractiveness to explorers. This can potentially lead to unlocking full-scale operations down the line.
The Budget has also allocated $120 million for training and higher education, $2 million to attract workers and students, and provided free TAFE for young Territorians. This will further benefit the NT mining sector going forward.
