Mining by country

Mining in Kiribati

Mining in Kiribati: the public figures we hold so far. The World Bank puts mineral rents close to zero (2021) and ores and metals at 0.6% of merchandise exports (2021). No world production share, mine or listed company project is recorded here yet.

Mineral rents0%of GDP, 2021. Higher than 0% of countries.
Ores and metals0.6%of merchandise exports, 2021.
Governance, World Bank WGI 2025
  • Rule of law+0.87above 79% of countries
  • Political stability+1.25above 90% of countries
  • Regulatory quality-0.42above 37% of countries
  • Control of corruption+0.30above 63% of countries
Estimates from −2.5 to +2.5; the bar sits at the country's score.

Mining in Kiribati at a glance

Defining moment
End of Banaba phosphate and the Banaban court case (1976). The Banaban claim was heard for 106 days in 1975 and judged in 1976, a record for a civil case in the English High Court. Source: The National Archives

Mining employment from the ILO usually counts all of mining and quarrying, often with oil and gas; national shares of GDP and exports are as each source defines them.

History of mining in Kiribati

What the ground holds. phosphate (exhausted on Banaba in 1979) Source: The National Archives

How prospectors changed the worldThe full mining timeline

Mining elsewhere in Oceania

AustraliaPapua New GuineaNew ZealandNew CaledoniaNauruPalauSolomon IslandsCook IslandsFijiFrench Polynesia

World shares: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, latest year per mineral. Mineral rents, exports and governance: World Bank WDI and WGI. Trade: CEPII BACI. Projects: listed companies' announcements.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: The Big Hole by Rudolph Botha, CC BY-SA 3.0.