Thirteen explorers are on the hunt in North West Queensland for potential new resources projects and the jobs that go with them.
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Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the explorers in Karumba, Cloncurry, Lawn Hill, Mount Isa, McKinlay and north of Bedourie were sharing the first $4 million installment of a $10 million-plus booster pack announced last month to supercharge exploration.
"The resources sector industry has fared better than others throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and these grants will help to future-proof regional economies as the state continues its economic road to recovery," Dr Lynham said.
"Exploration is essential for Queensland to keep up with the soaring global demand for tech minerals and these grants are in place to put Queensland's industry on the front foot.
"Demand for the next generation of minerals is being driven by new technologies such as electric vehicles and renewable energy products, computers, smartphones and products for the medical, defence and scientific research sectors - and Queensland is the place to get them."
The thirteen explorers will receive grants of up to $200,000 each to undertake fourteen north-west Queensland projects in a joint initiative between government and industry, to help drive innovative ways to make new resource discoveries in Queensland.
"These are genuine regional exploration projects bringing regional jobs, with explorers looking for minerals including copper, cobalt, silver and gold as well as a plethora of rare earth minerals," Dr Lynham said.
"As the 'green economy' grows, so will the demand for minerals such as cobalt, nickel, indium and many others needed to manufacture renewable technology.
"Indium for example, plays a big role in some of today's most popular technology and is critical to the manufacture of solar panels - which we can already see on 620,000 rooftops right across the state".
Daniel Johnson of Aeon Walford Creek said the timing of the grant was the catalyst needed to undertake this exploration.
"This high-risk high-reward exciting hole will utilise rotary mud drilling then diamond coring to test the large standout geophysical anomaly as well as basement structure and character," Mr Johnson said.
"This drilling will allow us to better understand this underexplored area's mineral potential.
"This is a new mineral frontier out under cover and yet still within striking distance of Mount Isa with its services and excellent infrastructure."
The North West recipients
- $72,000 to Oakland Gold to undertake further drill exploration to find gold deposits in an underexplored area around 150km east of Karumba
- $200,000 to Red Metal to use magnetotelluric survey equipment to undertake detailed mapping of some known zinc, lead and silver deposits in and around the old Century Mine near Lawn Hill.
- $140,000 to Sector Projects to use diamond drilling technology to look for deep and high-quality deposits of copper and zinc in an area 200km north of Mount Isa.
- $180,000 to Century Mining to contribute to its magnetotelluric survey in and around the old Century Mine near Lawn Hill to help define more zinc, lead and silver deposits to potentially fast track to production by utilising existing mine and supply chain infrastructure.
- $180,000 to Mount Cuthbert Resources to re-analyse historical surface samples for new economy minerals in an area 100km north-east of Mount Isa.
- $325,000 in total to Teck Australia for 2 projects:
- exploring for lead, zinc and silver in Riversleigh siltstone 200km north-west of Mount Isa
- explore and potentially re-invigorate an area 200km south of Mount Isa for copper and zinc
- exploring for lead, zinc and silver in Riversleigh siltstone 200km north-west of Mount Isa
- explore and potentially re-invigorate an area 200km south of Mount Isa for copper and zinc
- $190,000 to Red Fox Resources to use diamond drilling equipment to test an area known as the Gipsy Creek Copper-Gold Project in North West Queensland.
- $200,000 to Capricorn Copper to use gravity gradiometry techniques to survey an area 100km north of Mount Isa in the hunt for copper, cobalt, lead, zinc and silver.
- $200,000 to Minotaur Operations to employ electromagnetic survey techniques to search for large base metal and gold deposits near McKinlay
- $200,000 to Aeon Walford Creek to explore for deep iron oxide, copper and gold in an area 100km west of Mount Isa.
- $200,000 to Vendetta Mining Corp to undertake deep drilling to look for zinc, silver and lead south of Cloncurry.
- $200,000 to Mawson Queensland to undertake deep drilling targeting base metals and new economy minerals near the world-class Cannington mine.
- $200,000 to Chinova Resources to undertake one of the nation's largest regional electromagnetic surveys of a known and relatively underexplored tech metal area 250km south-east of Mount Isa near the Osborne mine.
- $199,000 to Anglo American to use new core scanning and geochemistry techniques to analyse core samples from the Diamantina region from mineral exploration dating back to the 2000s, 150km north of Bedourie.