The Mineral Account for Australia is one of a series of ABS publications reporting on estimates of Australia's naturally occurring resources, in quantity terms. It presents a set of accounts for Australia's mineral and petroleum resources. These accounts form a major component of a broader project being undertaken by the ABS, that of environmental accounts.
Environmental accounts are important for a number of reasons.
They can also describe the release of wastes or pollutants resulting from the economic activity using the resources. Work is in progress to track this flow in the form of a waste and residuals account and will be published when available. The resulting information system of environmental accounts linked to economic accounts can be used to derive indicators, which are used to address a wide range of policy questions relating to sustainable development. In Australia, environmental accounting is still a relatively new endeavour. Suggestions and comments on this ABS publication, or environmental accounting in general, would be greatly appreciated and should be sent to the Director, Environment and Energy Statistics Section, Australian Bureau of Statistics, PO Box 10, Belconnen, ACT 2616.