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noRtHeRn teRRItoRY sPotLIGHt

Territory snaps back into

exploration action

NT Minister for Mining & industry Nicole
Manison (right) with Core Lithium
managing director Stephen Biggins

A
g
growing belief that the Northern Territory will become rowing belief that the Northern Territory will become
A Australia’s next major copper jurisdiction is attracting Australia’s next major copper jurisdiction is attracting
both established and emerging explorers to previously oth established and emerging explorers to previously
b
u
underexplored districts in the territory.nderexplored districts in the territory.

he likes of BHP Ltd, Oz Minerals Ltd, Minister for Mining and Industry Nicole pre-competitive data and co-funded drilling
TTeck Resources Ltd and Fortescue Manison said the NT Labor Government’s programmes over the last few years had
Metals Group Ltd have all pegged ground backing of the sector was beginning to pay delivered the confidence and information
in the Barkly Tablelands east of Tennant dividends. explorers needed to enter unchartered
Creek. Meanwhile, IGO Ltd has committed “The Territory Labor Government is ground.
$9 million to exploration on its Raptor and working very hard to make the NT the best “We’re really excited with the uptake on
Lake McKay projects. place for exploration investment in Austral- exploration tenure. We haven’t had this
There is even room for tiddlers among ia,” Manison told Paydirt. level of activity in the last few years, par-
the giants. One such junior is Eastern Met- “We are serious about getting on with the ticularly in the large greenfields areas that
als Ltd, which listed on the ASX last month job of growing our economy to $40 billion were unexplored in the past,” Scrimgeour
after a $5.3 million oversubscribed IPO. by 2030, with 20 mining projects currently told Paydirt. “We are getting excited by the
At the other end of the project pipeline, working towards FID in the Territory with a major interest in sedimentary-hosted cop-
Core Lithium Ltd announced in October combined value of $6.2 billion and the po- per deposits. BHP, Oz Minerals and FMG
that it would proceed with construction on tential to create 5,700 construction jobs and have all picked up large areas south of Alice
its Finniss lithium project near Darwin while 3,600 ongoing jobs. Springs and in the Barkly Tablelands east
companies such as Arafura Resources Ltd, “We know our resources sector is play- of Tennant Creek.
Primary Gold Pty Ltd and TNG Ltd stand ing a huge role in our economic comeback, “The Barkly wasn’t being explored be-
poised to follow Core into development. which is why we announced record annual cause the data was poor and there was
The new levels represent a dramatic shift funding of $9.5 million for more mineral thick cover. It took the government-acquired
for the NT, which had become an explora- exploration – to drive more mining and cre- data to highlight that area and show it had
tion backwater in the 2010s as explorers ate more jobs across the Territory, with the the right ingredients for copper-gold miner-
and established miners chose more mature funding to be ongoing.” alisation and sedimentary-hosted copper.
jurisdictions such as Western Australia, NT Geological Survey executive direc- “Now that industry has the data, it is pro-
Queensland and New South Wales. tor Ian Scrimgeour said the investment in viding the confidence needed to start ex-

Page 58 NOVeMBeR 2021 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT