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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-17 Daily Xml
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PROSPECTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (17:07): My question is to the Minister for Mineral Resources Development. Is he aware of the Prospector of the Year Award and any recent acknowledgement of the level of exploratory work being undertaken in South Australia?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (17:07): I thank the honourable member for his question. Australia's mining and exploration industry gathered in December to mark the end of a tumultuous year and acknowledged the work of its peers. At the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) end of year dinner, my federal colleague Martin Ferguson presented the prestigious AMEC 2008 Teck Prospector of the Year Award. This award was presented to David Brunt, Geoffrey McConachy and Andrea Marsland Smith for their work in discovering the 4 Mile uranium deposit, located 550 kilometres north of Adelaide.

AMEC chief executive officer Simon Bennison said that the award recognised a special mix of technical and scientific excellence, innovation, persistence and outstanding leadership. As Mr Bennison told the dinner, the AMEC Teck Prospector of the Year Award highlights the critical importance exploration plays in Australia's long-term social and economic wellbeing.

The South Australian government also acknowledges the important role that exploration plays in laying the groundwork for establishing mines that generate jobs, investment and export earnings for this state. When this government took office, there were only four major operating metals mines in this state, and annual spending on mineral exploration averaged $40 million. Thanks to initiatives such as the Plan for Accelerating Exploration and this government's one-stop approach to approvals, annual spending surged to a record $355 million last financial year, more than tripling the government's ambitious target of $100 million a year set down in the South Australian Strategic Plan. When coupled with petroleum exploration, that figure leaps to more than $500 million annually.

The increased expenditure on exploration has led to the number of major operating mines increasing to 11, with a pipeline of up to 30 projects still on the books since this government came to office almost seven years ago. The continued interest in South Australia for exploration reflects the confidence that minerals companies have to invest in this state. The ongoing global economic uncertainty has made financing for some of these 30 mining projects more problematic, but the government remains hopeful that, as stability returns to the global economic outlook, many of these projects will proceed. Meanwhile, the hard work of exploration continues.

The recently announced Prospector of the Year Award acknowledges the work of explorers in unearthing the 4 Mile uranium deposit in 2005. The 4 Mile deposit is considered one of the most significant uranium discoveries anywhere in the world in the past 25 years. The project is a joint venture between Quasar Resources Ltd (with a 75 per cent holding) and Alliance Resources Ltd (with the remaining 25 per cent). Quasar Resources is a wholly owned subsidiary of Heathgate Resources, operator of the Beverley uranium mine, located 8 kilometres from this important new discovery. The 4 Mile discovery was supported by a PACE grant from the government's PACE collaborative drilling program.

I congratulate the winners and I look forward to the developers of this exciting project working with PIRSA and other regulatory agencies in tapping the potential of this strategy. I also assure South Australians that, while this government welcomes investment to develop South Australia's mineral resources, all mining applications are subject to rigorous technical and environmental assessment. This application process also includes extensive scope for public consultation. This proposed mine underlines South Australia's importance as a major source of the world's uranium resource. The investment already made by the joint venture at 4 Mile would not have been possible without the certainty provided by the ALP's uranium policy.

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