Key takeaways
- For the world’s top 40 mining companies, 2025 was a solid year, as revenues grew 3.3% to US$909 billion and net profits rose to US$120 billion, with stronger revenues, higher profitability, and improved cash generation reflecting higher prices for gold and copper alongside disciplined cost management.
- Gold and copper drove much of the earnings uplift, while other parts of the sector faced more constrained performance.
- Geology is no longer sufficient on its own to determine success. The ability to turn mineral potential into investable, operational projects now depends increasingly on policy settings, access to capital, and processing capability.
- The sector continues to face a structural capital challenge, particularly for new and early-stage projects where risk, permitting uncertainty, and the absence of contracted cash flows make financing difficult.
- Governments have an important role in setting policy and capital in motion, not by replacing private investment, but by creating the conditions that allow capital to be deployed with greater confidence.
- Productivity has become a broader strategic imperative, extending beyond site-level efficiency to portfolio choices, capital allocation, organisational design, and workforce performance.
- AI and digital technologies offer significant upside, but real value will depend less on experimentation than on disciplined deployment at scale.
The global mining industry delivered a resilient performance in 2025, but the path to unlocking future value is becoming more complex. PwC’s Mine 2026 report examines the performance of the world’s 40 largest mining companies, and the trends impacting the industry. The report explores how success will depend less on geology alone and more on how effectively companies, investors and governments mobilise policy, capital and productivity to drive outcomes.
For Australia—one of the world’s leading mining economies—this shift presents both a significant opportunity and a clear imperative for action.
Australia’s miners in the top 40
#1 BHP Group
Commodity focus – Diversified2025 ranking #1#14 Fortescue
Commodity focus – Iron ore2025 ranking #14#39 Evolution Mining
Commodity focus - GoldNew to the top 40#3 Rio Tinto
Commodity focus – Diversified2025 ranking #3#31 Northern Star Resources
Commodity focus – Gold2025 ranking #31Australia’s path from ambition to action
Australia’s policy pivot is creating a competitive edge
Australia stands out for the clearest policy pivot towards capturing greater value from critical minerals. Through its Critical Minerals Strategy 2023–30 and the broader Future Made in Australia agenda, we are moving beyond extraction to strengthen processing, refining and supply chain capability. This direction is being reinforced by targeted fiscal incentives, public financing mechanisms and the Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve, signalling a more coordinated approach to building sovereign capability and improving project economics.
Critical minerals policy positioning around the world
Investability remains the central capital challenge
Strong sector cash flows do not automatically translate into investment where it is most needed. As in other markets, Australian mining projects continue to face structural barriers to capital, particularly in early-stage development and midstream infrastructure, where risk, permitting complexity and uncertain cash flows can constrain investment. This heightens the importance of policy certainty, streamlined approvals and financing structures that help de-risk projects and mobilise private capital.
Productivity and technology will shape competitiveness
Productivity is becoming a more important determinant of long-term competitiveness. Australian miners face many of the same pressures affecting the global sector, including declining ore grades, cost inflation and tighter labour markets, alongside weaker productivity performance over time. While Australia has led in areas of operational innovation, the next phase of value creation will depend on how effectively digital technologies, automation and AI are embedded across operations and the broader enterprise.
Average AI index fitness score by sector
Industry comparison highlights the need for mining to increase digital maturity.
Source: AI performance study
The next test is execution
Australia is well positioned, with mineral endowment, policy momentum and institutional capability all working in its favour. But advantage will ultimately be determined by execution—translating policy ambition into investable projects, scalable processing capacity and sustained productivity improvement. The opportunity is not only to extract more, but to capture more value across the value chain.
Read the full Mine 2026 report to explore the detailed analysis, global trends and strategic actions shaping the future of mining.
Mine 2026: From ambition to action
Read the report to explore the detailed analysis, global trends and strategic actions shaping the future of mining.
Mining and metals
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