About Us
South Australia's Mineral Wealth - a State of Opportunity
While Australia is famous for its vast and rich resources, South Australia remains relatively under explored with much of its potential mineral wealth hidden. Nevertheless, South Australia's mineral industry is of major economic importance to the State with a total value of mineral (non-petroleum) production in 2006–07 of $2.5 billion (see the MESA Journal 48 - 2007 Annual Review issue).
The South Australian mining and exploration industry comprises numerous mining operations, developing resources and green and brown field exploration. The mining of gold, copper, iron, zinc, uranium and coal within South Australia is combined with precious opal and dimension stone, gypsum, limestone, dolomite, silica, talc and barite.
The giant Olympic Dam (copper-gold-uranium-silver) is joined by the Middleback Ranges (iron ore) and the Challenger (gold), Beverley (uranium), Leigh Creek Coal Field and Beltana (zinc) as major mineral producers. Developing projects such as Prominent Hill and Kanmantoo (copper-gold), Tunkillia and White Dam (gold), Jacinth and Mindarie (heavy mineral sands) and Flinders and Angas (lead-zinc) and Honeymoon (uranium) further highlight the potential wealth of South Australia. More over, discoveries such as Prominent Hill (November 2001) and Carrapateena (June 2005) encourage new explorers to the State as seen in the rising trend of exploration licences and exploration expenditure.
The Mineral ScoreCard 2006/07 (.pdf 291.2kb) provides accurate and up-to-date information regarding the performance of South Australia's mineral industry. The ScoreCard measures give critical information on strategic development targets, as well as assisting in the development of the programs designed to aid expansion of the mineral industry.
The Division of Minerals and Energy Resources
Together with the Petroleum and Geothermal Group, the Mineral Resources Group undertakes pre-competitive exploration initiatives to collect high quality geoscientific data aimed at stimulating private sector exploration activity in the State.
Exploration initiatives include the:
- South Australian Exploration Initiative (SAEI), from 1992–1996 with funding of $24.5m
- Broken Hill Exploration Initiative (BHEI) which commenced as a major component of the SAEI in 1994
- Targeted Exploration Initiative South Australia (TEiSA), from 1998–2002 with funding $10m.
The current government initiative, A Plan for Accelerating Exploration (PACE), was born out of work undertaken by the Resources Task Force and embodied in South Australia’s Strategic Plan released in April 2004 by Premier Mike Rann. It therefore carries the imprimatur of government at the highest level and sets very high achievement targets.
PACE is focused on achieving these through environmentally sustainable development principles.
The government’s investment in PACE focuses on:
- Facilitating access to land, under a multiple land use framework, which embraces a triple bottom line approach in partnership with Indigenous people on Aboriginal lands.
- New pre-competitive geoscientific data to showcase the state’s mineral and petroleum prospectivity and address critical uncertainties that impede exploration investment. This will demonstrate to the global resources industry that South Australia’s mineral and energy endowment is competitive with other major resource regions of the world and that there is a real chance of commercial success here.
The Mineral Resources Group
Primary Industries and Resources South Australia's (PIRSA) Mineral Resources Group is guided by the following vision:
“South Australia - the preferred mineral investment destination”
This vision underlines by key targets stated in South Australia's Strategic Plan:
- $100 million per annum investment in mineral exploration by 2007
- $4 billion per annum from mineral production and processing by 2020
The Mineral Resources Group manages the State's mineral resources on behalf of the people of South Australia by undertaking the following activities:
Strategic Policy and Support
- Facilitate and operate as a 'lead agency' for the development of various mining projects
- Provide advice and statistics to the Government and community
- Maintain a legislative framework that supports efficient and appropriate development of the State's mineral resources
Mining Regulation and Rehabilitation
- Regulate exploration and mining industries to ensure responsible and environmentally sound resource development
- Determine and collect statutory royalties
Geoscientific Information Management
- Define mineral resources and their potential to support industry development throughout South Australia
- Generate and manage geoscientific information to provide geoscientific advice and data to industry, government and the community
- Utilise and develop new technologies (such as SARIG) to deliver geoscientific information to all it's stakeholders
Mineral Promotion
- Promote responsible exploration for and development of South Australia's mineral resources
- Promote the mineral prospectivity and potential of the State nationally and internationally
The Mineral Resources Group - On The Web
The Minerals Website and the South Australian Resources Information Geoserver (SARIG) is the online interface with the Mineral Resources Group.
By monitoring the In Focus Section on the homepage, reading What's New and the latest MESA Journals, and knowing where Mineral Resources Group representatives are travelling through the Events Calendar, this website offers a wealth of information for the members of the minerals industry, academic and research institutions, government organisations and all interested people from around the world.
- Page URL: http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/minerals/about_us
- Page Last Modified: May 23, 2008