Presentation to the AMEC 2010 National Mining Congress, Perth, June 2010
The key observations were:
- Between 1975-2009 Australia accounted for 17% Western World’s exploration expenditures
- With this the country found 20% of the Western World’s mineral deposits by number, and 17% of the Tier 1 & 2 deposits
- Australian explorers are currently finding around 5-10 greenfield deposits each year, at an average cost of ~US$200m per (Moderate) deposit
- The local Industry good at finding moderate-sized deposits – but its track record on Major + Giant discoveries is deteriorating
- This is due to an over-reliance on brownfields exploration
- Australia’s long term future hinges on making giant greenfield discoveries
- The proposed Resource Super Profits Tax discourages this
- Need to develop effective methods for exploring under deep cover
Note: Since writing the presentation the Australian Government has dropped its proposed Super Profits Tax on the industry