The 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games are fast approaching, and with them comes an opportunity for Australia’s mining industry to play a starring role in developing critical infrastructure for the world’s premier multi-sports extravaganza.
With 29 sports disciplines including athletics, basketball, and archery competing across 22 venues, including the opening ceremony venue, as Queensland’s capital takes centre-stage Australia’s vast mineral resources will be crucial in building the infrastructure, transportation, and facilities necessary to host the summer Games.
It’s a long distance race for the state government to cross the finish line with needed infrastructure and facilities to host these Games – one in which there are hopes of few hurdles, no staggered starts, nor injuries that could jeopardise a podium finish.
Mining has always played an important role in the Olympic Games. A decade ago, the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia played an important part when nearly every mineral and element on the periodic table was used to deliver events.
Weighing nearly 1.8kg, the torch was carried by 14,000 torchbearers through 2,900 towns and villages across all 83 regions and due to the harsh Russian climate, organisers incorporated aluminium, steel, copper, and polymer fittings into the construction of these iconic symbols.
Fast forward to the more recent 2024 Paris Olympics, and organisers added their own intriguing touch, putting 18 grams of iron sourced from the Eiffel Tower into winning athletes’ medals, as Mining.com.au previously revealed.
In 2032, Australia’s mining industry will be going for gold – or as the Australian Government puts it: “Mining is not only a driver of economic growth for Australia, it supports regional development and delivers the essential materials for modern technologies.”
With the race to deliver the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games now on, the Queensland Government is establishing a roadmap to deliver the mammoth event.
Going for gold: Brisbane Games vision
Late last month, the state government released its 2032 Delivery Plan, involving a $7.1 billion venue capital works program, which allows the games to reach beyond Brisbane and enable Queensland to benefit from the infrastructure and transport being established.
The project will ensure Brisbane is ready to host the Games, while also having lasting benefits for the state through improved transport networks and advanced facilities.
One of the key developments being established is the new stadium in Victoria Park in Brisbane, which is expected to seat up to 63,000 spectators. This new Victoria Park stadium project – which is expected to be three times the size of the iconic Sphere in Las Vegas – will require vast amounts of materials such as steel, aluminium, and glass.
Constructing the new stadium in Victoria Park could require at least 15,000 tonnes of steel. For comparison, the new Wembley Stadium — the largest stadium in the UK — required 23,000 tonnes of steel products before it was completed to seat up to 90,000 seats.
As a benchmark, NVC Engineering says for a standard industrial building, expect to use 30-50kg of steel per square metre. For example, a 500m2 warehouse using 30kg of steel per square metre would require about 15 tonnes of steel. According to MineralsEd, stadiums require large amounts of steel which is made up of iron, zinc and molybdenum, glass which is made up of silica sand and feldspar, and aluminium and dimension stone.
The Australian Steel Institute notes that Australia produces around 5.3 million tonnes of steel per year, much of which is used in construction, infrastructure, and manufacturing projects, such as stadiums, bridges, and towers.
World steel production was weak in 2024 and remains about 4% below the peak in global output in 2021. Production is expected to be flat in 2025 then slowly pick up over the five-year outlook period, reaching just under 2 billion tonnes by 2030.
The steel used in the construction of the new Victoria Park stadium is likely to come from local suppliers, although global trade dynamics including US tariffs on steel and aluminium could present challenges for the industry.
However, according to data from UN Comtrade, the University of New South Wales Sydney says Australia’s direct economic hit will be relatively small — less than $1 billion of steel and aluminium was exported to the US in 2023.
Aluminium can be sourced from Australia’s four operating smelters located in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Tasmania. In 2023, aluminium production totalled 1.55 million tonnes, of which 1.5 million tonnes was exported.
The silvery-white, lightweight metal will be considered essential for building lightweight structures, such as tensile membrane roofs and canopies.
High primary aluminium prices are expected to encourage growth in global primary aluminium supply over the outlook period. It is projected that global primary aluminium supply will increase from 74 million tonnes in 2025 to 77Mt in 2030.
In addition to steel, other critical materials for the new Olympics stadium include fertilisers, as a stadium is not much use without a pitching field. There are three primary essential minerals needed for fertiliser; potash, phosphate, and ammonia. All three minerals are considered vital for optimising soil health and sustaining agricultural output.
As previously reported, potash is crucial for growth and yield, while phosphate can be converted into phosphoric acid which is a key component in various industries including food and cosmetics.
Meanwhile, ammonia is a colourless, highly irritating gas which is the foundation for nitrogen fertiliser.
Keeping development on track
In addition to the stadium developments, the Olympic Games will spur an expansion of Southeast Queensland’s transport infrastructure.
The Queensland Government plans to build an improved transport network involving new and faster rail lines and stations, upgrades to major motorways, and the new Wave project — a rail line running from Beerwah to Birtinya linking with metro services all the way to the Sunshine Coast Airport, through Maroochydore.
Spanning 20km, the Logan and Gold Coast rail project will double the number of tracks — totalling four tracks — between Kuraby and Beenleigh facilitating faster and more efficient travel for spectators and athletes.
Steel and iron will again be crucial to these developments. Railway tracks, which are typically made from steel, will form the backbone of the expanded transport system. Steel has long been the material of choice for railway infrastructure due to its strength, durability, and longevity. It is used for manufacturing various components such as rails, sleepers, bridges, and locomotives.
During the 19th century, cast iron was the first materials used in railway tracks, but was eventually replaced by wrought iron tracks which were made by heating and shaping iron into rails and then assembled onsite. However, over time, steel tracks have become more common, which are made from low or medium carbon steel, alloy steel, and stainless steel.
Again, aluminium and copper are also used in the construction and railway sectors. Aluminium is used in constructing lightweight railway carriages and electrical components, while copper is used for electrical wiring, connectors, and other electrical components in railway systems.
Pedal to the medal
The minerals used in constructing these critical transport and infrastructure elements can be sourced from Australian mines. Minerals such as copper, manganese, and tungsten will also be key to delivering the Olympic Games. Manganese, for example, is considered a vital alloying element in steel production, as reported by the US Geological Survey.
Meanwhile, copper – already widely used in electrical systems – will be applied to create the 2032 Games’ medals. This will be done similarly as it did in the 2020 Tokyo Games, where 2,700kg of bronze — derived from copper — were used in producing the third place medals, as Mining.com.au previously reported.
Copper prices are high and expected to rise, encouraging copper ‘thrifting’ – reducing the copper content of products or processes through design improvements and technological innovations. Copper is being replaced with aluminium in some manufacturing applications because it is about one quarter the price.
Australia’s mining industry is considered one of the world’s biggest untapped mineral markets with close to 80% of the country yet to be explored, according to the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).
When it comes to mining and mineral resources extraction the country is considered by many as the gold standard.
The Department of Industry, Science and Resources’ March 2025 Resources and Energy Quarterly report shows Australian resource and energy commodity exports are forecast to fall to $387 billion in 2024–25 from $415 billion in 2023–24. Further modest falls in earnings are likely over the five-year outlook period, steadying at $343 billion near the end.
The two-year outlook has improved since the December 2024 Resources and Energy Quarterly, driven by the impact of a lower-than-expected AUD/USD exchange rate and higher than expected prices for iron ore, gold and LNG.
As such, the mining sector will be heavily involved in delivering the necessary resources used for the upcoming Games in 2032.
From the steel used to build stadiums and railways, to the copper and manganese essential for transport infrastructure and medals, these are just some of the minerals and metals that will soon ‘let the games begin’.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Olympics.com
