HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-01 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

MINERAL EXPLORATION

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (15:27): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Mineral Resources Development a question about mineral exploration in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: The state is currently the focus of exploration by many resource companies; indeed, South Australia appears to be on the cusp of a mining boom. Will the minister provide an update on the latest exploration figures and indicate what they mean for the future economic prosperity of the state? Also, will the minister provide details on how South Australia's performance in attracting mineral resources companies to explore in this state compares on the global stage?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:28): I thank the Hon. Bernie Finnigan for his very important question—certainly it is somewhat of an improvement over some other questions we have had today. The latest mineral exploration expenditure data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics provides concrete evidence of South Australia's rapidly growing stature in the mining community.

The December quarter ABS figures provide a welcome snapshot of the extraordinary growth taking place in South Australia's mineral sector. During the 2007 calendar year mineral exploration expenditure in South Australia climbed to $331.3 million compared to $191.4 million just a year earlier—a staggering increase in such a short period. South Australia's resources sector has now more than tripled the target set by the Rann Labor government just four years ago of $100 million worth of mineral exploration in this state by 2007.

Further underlining the excellent exploration results is confirmation from the Fraser Institute of the performance of South Australia's mining sector on the global stage. The Canadian institute's annual survey of mining companies continues to rank South Australia fourth in the world in terms of mineral potential, and the next Australian state, Queensland, was placed nineteenth globally in the mineral potential index—a gauge based on respondents' answers to whether or not a jurisdiction's mineral potential under the current policy environment encourages or discourages exploration.

South Australia's maintenance of its current mineral potential ranking is strong and even more impressive on a national basis. In the 2006-07 survey four Australian states made up the top 10 positions, but a year later South Australia stands alone as the only Australian state in the top 10. The Fraser Institute survey results highlight South Australia's strong encouragement of our mineral sector, underpinned by sensible and effective pro-mining government policy, such as the hugely successful and internationally recognised plan for accelerating exploration, better known as PACE.

The mineral industry's new-found confidence in South Australia is also delivering an unprecedented pipeline of new mines and new mining proposals in addition to the proposed giant expansion of Olympic Dam. While the last quarterly results emphasised that South Australia is open for business to resource companies, I stress that this government will continue to insist on the highest standards in every aspect of mining development. PIRSA is case-managing this second wave of 30 new advanced projects and developments, representing a possible investment of $25 billion in capital investment for the state, including the proposed Olympic Dam expansion.

Given the latest exploration figures and survey results, we can claim that South Australia is the pro-mining state in South Australia. Since the 2004 launch of PACE, South Australia continues to capture an increased share of the national expenditure on mineral exploration. The ABS figures show that South Australia's share of national exploration spending is 16.1 per cent, up from 13.1 per cent in the same period in 2006. The comparison is even more striking when you compare it to the 4.2 per cent of national expenditure South Australia received in March 2004 before this government's introduction of the PACE initiative. There is little doubt that the seven-year, $30.9 million PACE program, which includes $10 million for drilling partnerships with industry, has helped us significantly boost mineral exploration activity in this state.

The 12-month investment of $331.3 million in mineral exploration puts South Australia into second place behind Western Australia in terms of mineral exploration and ahead of Queensland, which had $319.2 million. Of the $93.5 million spent in the December quarter, $39.7 million was invested in the search for new mineral deposits, with the remaining $53.8 million spent on the expansion and development of South Australia's growing list of known mineral deposits.

Excluding the estimated expenditure in resource drilling at BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam during the December quarter, about 50 per cent of private mineral exploration investment targeted new deposits or greenfields exploration. This unprecedented growth will create substantial regional employment opportunities and new start-up industry developments across the state in the service and supply and specialist skills and training sector.

So, I am absolutely delighted with these results. The government is committed to maximising access to land across South Australia for responsible and successful mineral exploration that is the key to underpinning the long-term sustainability of our mining industry.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT