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PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral exploration expenditure increased by 28.4% to A$563.4-million in the June quarter, with base metals exploration acting as the driving force.
Compared with the previous quarter, expenditure on greenfields exploration rose by 37.1%, or A$54-million, while brownfields exploration rose by 24.1%, or A$70.7-million, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Monday.
The organisation stated that money pumped into base metals exploration increased by 38.1%, or A$42.2-million.
Compared with the previous quarter, the total metres drilled rose 44.3%. Greenfields mineral exploration metres drilled rose 57% and brownfields metres drilling rose 37.8%.
“Mineral exploration is the lifeblood of the mining industry. The jump in exploration will lead to longer mine lives and hopefully future mines,” said the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (Amec) CEO Warren Pearce.
“Exploration rose in all jurisdictions, with Western Australia and Queensland particularly notable.”
“In Western Australia, mineral exploration expenditure grew by over A$80-million compared to the previous quarter, a 31% increase. In Queensland, exploration expenditure increased by A$13-million, a 24% growth quarter-on-quarter.”
Pearce noted that over 60% of Australia’s greenfields mineral exploration occurred in Western Australia.
“Overall, an imbalance between greenfields and brownfields exploration remains. With 64% of drilling in already explored brownfield locations. In the long term, this imbalance must be addressed if Australia is to find the future mines.”
Pearce noted that the federal government’s Junior Mineral Exploration Incentive (JMEI), which was oversubscribed in June, was beginning to redress that imbalance by attracting much needed equity capital to increase greenfields mineral exploration.
The JMEI allows mineral exploration companies with no mining income, to raise capital, and renounce and pass future tax deductions to their Australian resident investors. The money raised must be spent on greenfields mineral exploration in Australia.
The first round of applications for the 2017/18 income year saw 23 applicants being successful in accessing A$8.4-million of exploration credits, with the balance remaining from the initial A$15-million allocation for 2017/18 added to the A$25-million exploration credits available for the 2018/19 round.
“The future of mining is built on mineral exploration and the growth seen in this quarter suggests a brighter future,” said Pearce.