PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) has welcomed the federal government’s implementation of the A$100-million Exploring for the Future programme, which seeks to boost the productivity and competitiveness of the minerals sector.

Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan said on Thursday that the Exploring for the Future project would focus in particular on exploration in Northern Australia.

“Mineral and energy resources represent 10% of Australia’s gross domestic product and more than 50% of our exports. Groundwater is essential for these commodities and a successful agricultural sector.

“Some of the first activities under the programme are now under way, including a A$3.1-million project in the Northern Territory to map the electrical conductivity of the ground to better understand the location of mineral and energy resources,” Canavan said.

In addition, a A$3.8-million project would explore a 550 km seismic line across Queensland and the Northern Territory to help identify the location and size of possible oil and gas resources.

“These are just the start of building a bigger and better picture of the mineral, energy and groundwater potential that lies beneath Australia.

“Around 80% of Australia remains underexplored. Tapping into Australia’s undiscovered potential is the key to not only securing a healthy ongoing supply of mineral, energy and groundwater resources but also our long-term prosperity.

“The work will focus on gathering new data to map the location, quantity and quality of the mineral, energy and groundwater resources in these underexplored areas.”

AMEC CEO Simon Bennison said the A$100-million investment in Geoscience Australia to produce precompetitive data for the Exploring for the Future programme would have an “enormous multiplier effect”.

“Australia will reap dividends from this investment in the future - in jobs, mines and government revenue streams.”

Bennison said that the production of precompetitive data by Geoscience Australia, the UNCOVER programme, the state and territory co-funded drilling schemes and the exploration development incentive (EDI) were all important cogs in exploration and discovering the mines of tomorrow.

“Each new mine creates thousands of jobs and generates significant economic and social dividends for the nation and local communities.

“UNCOVER is supporting scientific research to improve exploration success. The better we can do exploration, the more we can attract investment in the Australian resources industry.

“The investment made in co-funded drilling schemes reduces the cost of drilling, and makes it easier for companies exploring remote Australia to make the decision to drill and discover the mines of tomorrow,” Bennison said.

Furthermore, the EDI programme has stimulated investment in eligible Australian junior mineral exploration companies, making it more attractive for investors to decide to support the next generation of miners.

“The cyclical nature of the industry means that investing in mineral exploration now is vital to ensuring the discoveries that will become the mines of tomorrow are made, providing the jobs and government revenue streams for the future,” said Bennison.