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hen the Carrapateena copper-gold “There are some
Wproject in South Australia produced good projects and
its first saleable concentrate in December, companies, but I
it was the culmination of nearly 15 years of think it needs a bit
more energy.”
exploration effort.
SA Government open in the State since mining started at the Government pro-
The operation is the first major mine to
In December 2019,
vided the sector with
stablemate Prominent Hill in 2009. The
that
much-needed
question the entire SA mining sector is now
backs explorers asking is whether there will be another dec- energy boost with the
announcement of a
ade-long wait for the next opening.
new $10 million Ac-
Much could depend on the approach of
the State Government. The Carrapateena
celerated Discovery
again discovery hole was drilled in 2005 by re- Initiative (ADI) for the to drill targets and discoveries,” Pearce
Dan van Holst Pellekaan
State.
nowned private explorer Rudy Gomez’s
The three-year programme will see
RMG Services. The programme was 50%
funded through the State Government’s
co-funded grants awarded for drilling pro-
newly introduced five-year, $22.5 million
“Mineral exploration is the lifeblood of the
Plan for Accelerated Exploration (PACE) grammes in new terrains, the promotion of said.
collaborative innovation and technology to
programme. generate new exploration ideas, logistical mining industry and each economic discov-
PACE was the first initiative of its kind in support in remote greenfield areas and new ery creates a new mine with jobs, royalties
Australia, particularly with the inclusion of geophysical programmes. and benefits for the local community.
co-funded drilling grants. A 2014 Depart- In addition, the State Government has “The ADI and the Explore the Gawler
ment of Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, committed $250,000 to the ExploreSA: The challenge are part of a suite of responses
Resources and Energy analysis of the pro- Gawler Challenge, the first crowdsourced needed to boost South Australia’s growth in
gramme found the economic benefits had exploration challenge in Australia. mineral exploration. This year the Depart-
been profound with SA lifting its share of “A strong resources sector is an essential ment of Mining is 125 years old, and the Ge-
national mineral exploration expenditure in component of South Australia’s prosper- ological Survey is 135 years old; it is great
the 10 years the programme had been ac- ity and accounts for more than 35% of the to see pioneering programmes such as
tive. state’s exports,” Minister for Energy and the Challenge and the ADI being launched
The report conservatively estimated that Mining Dan van Holst Pellekaan said. to grow mining and mineral exploration in
an extra $700 million had been generated “Previous government-funded mineral South Australia.”
in private mineral exploration expenditure exploration focused on drill targets but the Just as PACE was in 2004, the Gawler
and state mining revenue increased by $2.4 expanded scope of the ADI will have mul- Challenge is a first-of-its-kind, encouraging
billion off the back of less than $50 million tiple environmental and social benefits, as participants from different fields to pick over
of expenditure by the Government through well as driving significant economic gains.” the Geological Survey of South Australia’s
the initiative. “The ADI also recognises the importance vast historical records, primary data and re-
Oz Minerals Ltd’s Carrapateena was the of the state’s regional communities by tar- search to identify new potential drill targets
jewel in PACE’s discovery crown but the geting remote water sources and boosting across central SA.
programme could also lay claim to a further job opportunities.” “This state-of-the-art competition has the
14 significant exploration successes result- Industry groups responded positively to potential to unearth the next Olympic Dam
ing from the collaborative drilling initiative. the announcement with South Australian or Carrapateena by encouraging global
When the new Coalition State Govern- Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief ex- thinkers and innovators to interrogate our
ment cut PACE funding in 2018, the local ecutive Rebecca Knol saying the ADI was open-file data and generate new explora-
exploration industry was left wondering the most innovative co-funding programme tion models and ideas for targeting,” Minis-
where the next discovery would come from. in Australia. ter van Holst Pellekaan said.
Exploration rates have slowed over the “Exploration incentives are a proven eco- Unearthed Industry Lead – Crowdsourc-
last five years as investors choose to refo- nomic multiplier, with $23 million in returns ing, Holly Bridgwater said the competition
cus discovery efforts on brownfield districts generated for each $1 million invested,” she served to leverage data science to reverse
such as the Eastern Goldfields of Western said. “This means the ADI could potentially the trend of falling discovery rates.
Australia. generate around $230 million in benefit to “This… will attract a global community
The SA exploration sector, it seems, is in South Australia as untapped resources are of innovators, some of whom won’t have
dire need of a shot in the arm. identified and unlocked. worked in the mining industry before,” she
“Carrapateena is a good piece of news “This is good news for the State’s explo- said.
happening at the moment and there’s been ration sector and we welcome the Govern- “We can’t wait to see how they will ap-
a good discovery around Oak Dam West but ment’s decision to open the EOI phase ply their diverse skills, fresh ideas and novel
I think we’re still trying to get off the ground today. It will play a major role in the es- approaches to mineral exploration to accel-
and it feels like some energy is needed to tablishing a pipeline of new developments erate discovery in South Australia.”
get a bit more happening in SA,” Associa- which will be vital in supporting the State The ExploreSA: Gawler Challenge will
tion of Mining and Exploration Companies Growth Agenda.” open on March 2 and run until July 31.
(AMEC) chief executive Warren Pearce told Pearce welcomed the innovative nature Competitors’ efforts will be assessed by
Paydirt. “The State Government has start- of both the ADI and the ExploreSA: Gawler a panel of expert judges to determine the
ed doing some good things, including intro- Challenge. winners of multiple prize categories. The
ducing the Accelerated Discovery Initiative “AMEC called for a competition to attract targets produced will be made available to
and hopefully that will help charge some of fresh ‘out of the box’ thinking to unlock the the public, to incentivise exploration across
the exploration that has been sleeping. geological potential of the Gawler and lead the Gawler.

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT MaRCH 2020 Page 63