The Newport Consulting report found a number of indicators pointing towards an industry revival, including increases in Capex, with 27% of companies either planning to moderately or significantly increase capex in the next 12 months. Of those leaders, 31% plan to increase spend by up to 15%.

According to the report, the pendulum is starting to swing towards a revival, with 43% of mining leaders optimistic about their prospects for the year ahead.

Newport Consulting David Hand said: “This is the first time in three years that the industry is clearly showing signs of a revival – not just a flicker of life but a distinct positive shift in sentiment and outlook.

“Companies are spending again, have more confidence in stabilisation of prices, and have prioritised growth strategies. It’s a fine line, however as at the same time, the industry wants to see Government take a proactive stance in reducing red tape; especially surrounding mining and project approval processes, which are seen to hamper growth and Australia’s ability to return to a more competitive position globally.”

This is up significantly from 2014, when confidence hit an all time low. The report confirms the gap is closing between leaders who are not optimistic, which has dramatically fallen from 93% to 55% this year, and leaders who are more upbeat and confident, which has sharply increased from below 10% to 43%.

Leaders also displayed signs of confidence around price stabilisation, with one in two leaders expecting prices to remain the same for the next 12 months.

Further, companies reducing staff have decreased significantly from 80 to 44% for the year ahead. And there is a sharp increase in the number of companies not making any changes to their hiring plans, while 8% of leaders said they will be hiring.

However, nearly one quarter of leaders interviewed clearly warned the government that it needs to urgently address certain regulations and red tape; particularly the project approval process. Only then can the industry shift up a gear and return to a level of international competitiveness as a sector.

This year’s report features an exclusive interview with Gina Rinehart, Chairman of

Hancock Prospecting and Roy Hill Holdings chair Gina Rinehart said of the report’s findings: “The Australian mining industry has to act during this drastic commodity prices decline, to ensure that it continues to be internationally competitive. We also need to significantly and urgently cut the Government-imposed regulations, approvals, permits, licenses and compliance cost burdens that are placed on Australia’s resource industry. Yet little is happening.

“Without this, we will continue to see declines in exploration and investment, instead of growth, and suffer the consequences that reduced exploration and investment brings, including the negative effect on our standards of living. The time to act is now before further opportunities are lost.”