According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the trend estimate for mineral exploration expenditure in the March quarter rose by 4.7%, $A17.7 million, to $392.1 million.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for exploration expenditure was up by 5.2% or $19.4 million to $395.3 million.

The largest contributor was Western Australia, which notched a 6.8% rise, or 7.1% seasonally adjusted.

In further good news, the trend estimate for metres drilled rose by 6.3%, and the current quarter estimate is 17.4% higher than the March quarter of 2016.

Seasonally adjusted, metres drilled rose by 13.7%, but in original terms, metres drilled fell by 13.7%.

Drilling in areas of new deposits fell by 26.6%, while drilling around existing orebodies dropped by 5.6%.

Base metals expenditure fell over the quarter, with a halving of silver, lead and zinc exploration not enough only partially offsetting a rise in nickel and cobalt exploration.

Gold, iron ore, mineral sands, uranium, coal and diamond exploration was lower, with a slight rise in the “other” category.

The ABS expects June half exploration expenditure to reach $694 million, up from $635.4 million in the December half and $641.8 million in the same period of 2016.

S&P Global Market Intelligence said last week that nonferrous exploration in Australia was showing encouraging signs of recovery so far this year, with financings in the March quarter jumped by 128% to US$634.4 million.

Although exploration budgets fell by 16% year-on-year, Australia remained the world’s second-largest nonferrous exploration destination (behind Canada) with a reported budget of nearly $900 million, or 13% of the global total.

Despite the drop in reported budgets, drilling activity surged, reaching the highest level since at least 2014, with gold remaining the most-targeted commodity, but specialty metals making up a larger portion of the total.