西澳资源开发量在其1999年中的铁矿工业述评中预计,西澳的铁矿工业将平安地度过因亚洲经济危机带来的下降,固守其作为亚洲地区最大铁矿石供应商的地位。根据对世界钢产量在776亿ｔ基础上年增长13%的长期预测,西澳资源开发署预计世界钢产量在2010年可达906亿ｔ,2020年达1031亿ｔ Western Australia’s Resource Exploitation Volume In its review of the iron ore industry in mid-1999, it is estimated that the iron ore industry in Western Australia will safely weather the decline brought by the Asian economic crisis and stick to its position as the largest iron ore supplier in Asia . Based on its long-term forecast of a 13% annual increase in world steel production of 77.6 billion tonnes, WAED expects world steel production to reach 90.6 billion tonnes by 2010 and 103.1 billion tonnes by 2020