THE Federal Government has added two new corridors spanning the length of the nation to its $125m expansion of the Exploring for the Future program.
The program, launched in 2016 and led by Geoscience Australia, is dedicated to exploring Australia’s resource potential and boosting investment.
With one on either side of the country, the two corridors have been identified by Geoscience Australia as having high potential for new energy, minerals and groundwater resources discoveries.
The eastern corridor starts at the edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria and runs through Mount Isa in Queensland, down the border of NSW, South Australia and Victoria.
The western corridor starts south of Darwin and straddles the borders of the Northern Territory, WA and South Australia, finishing at the Great Australian Bight.
Federal Resources, Water and Northern Australia Minister Keith Pitt said this addition will support the country’s economic recovery by providing geological data and information that de-risks exploration and investment.
“These two corridors have the potential for new discoveries of groundwater, conventional and unconventional oil and gas, and a wide range of minerals including gold, diamonds, base metals and critical minerals, such as rare earth elements and lithium,” Mr Pitt said.
“The challenge for Exploring for the Future is to narrow down the location of the new mineral, energy and groundwater resources located along these corridors, which each run for thousands of kilometres through remote parts of Australia.”
The program, originally launched with $100.5m in funding, focused on northern Australia.
“Fourteen companies have taken up more than 80,000km2 of exploration tenements in areas the program focused on,” Mr Pitt said.
“Ten of these companies have publicly recognised the role Exploring for the Future data played in their decision.
“A return on investment analysis of three Exploring for the Future projects by ACIL Allen, which included a number of the program’s activities, estimated the total potential benefits could be worth up to $2.5b.”
