An exploration forum in Brisbane today heard that Queensland’s resources industry has grown exponentially over the past decade, and by an incredible 77 per cent in the past three years.
Queensland Exploration Council (QEC) Chair, Kim Wainwright, shared that exploration expenditure in Queensland has been robust over most of the past 10 years, apart from a drop in 2015-17, but had been on a steep upwards trajectory since 2018.
“For the past decade, the QEC’s annual Scorecard publication has shown a highly positive explorer sentiment towards resource prospectivity, which is very good news for our industry and a barometer for how well the resources sector is travelling,” she said.
Ms Wainwright said Queensland’s North West Minerals Province is one of the world’s richest mineral producing areas containing copper, lead and zinc as well as major silver and phosphate deposits and strong rare earth potential.
“These minerals are needed to make everyday items such as smartphones and renewable energy products such as wind turbines, electric cars, solar panels and batteries.”
“What makes these commodities special is not every mineral jurisdiction has them, and they can be difficult to extract and process economically.”
Attendees also heard about the key role Queensland’s critical minerals could play in the development of renewable technologies globally, and the potential for hydrogen to emerge as an alternative fuel and what that would mean for the sector in the future including replacement of diesel equipment and vehicles.
Ms Wainwright said coal was once again Queensland’s leading resource target in terms of exploration expenditure over the past year.
“In the final quarter of 2020, Queensland mineral exploration expenditure was $101 million, and coal accounted for more than half of that,” Ms Wainwright stated.
“This is the highest coal exploration expenditure we have seen in seven years and provides an insight into just how valuable the coal industry is to the Queensland economy.”
Ms Wainwright detailed that minerals such as gold and copper made up the other half of minerals exploration expenditure in the September 2020 quarter, with a historically strong price continuing for gold in particular.
The Exploration Initiatives for the Future forum heard that ABS figures showed more than $640 million was spent in Queensland on mineral and gas exploration in 2019-20.
“Given exploration spend typically correlates positively with strong commodity prices, the QEC expects the next ABS data release on 1 March to confirm a further increase in overall exploration expenditure in Queensland in 2020-21, so it looks like this upward trend will continue,” she said.
Today’s exploration forum showcased promising new data and progress reports from four grant recipients under the State Government’s Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI).
Dover Castle Metals used the grant to explore for silver, lead and zinc and potentially one of the highest grades of indium in Australia using diamond drilling techniques on land approximately 150 kilometres west of Cairns.
Red River Resources undertook low-impact magnetic surveys using drones on land approximately 100 kilometres south-west of Cairns to look for silver, lead, zinc and indium deposits, while Aeon Metals explored for deep iron oxide, copper and gold in an area approximately 100 kilometres west of Mount Isa.
Vecco Group also put its grant towards re-analysing drill core samples to identify new economy minerals north of Julia Creek.
Content from today’s event will be published on the Queensland Resources and Exploration Gateway here.
