Austrade urges Australian juniors to take higher position in Latin America

THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Australia’s junior mineral explorers and equipment suppliers have been encouraged to take a higher profile position and involvement in Latin America’s future mining industry.

Addressing the second day of the Paydirt 2013 Latin America Down Under resources conference in Sydney, Austrade chief executive officer Bruce Gosper said some 200 Australian junior resources companies were involved in Africa’s mining sector.

 

 “Yet only around 50 such Australian entities in the junior end of the market are involved in Latin America,” he said.

“The opportunities for these and other Australian companies to enter the growing Latin American mining market are significant as the sector there is keen to partner these Australian juniors in their mining, environmental, safety, technology and innovative mining techniques.”

Gosper said the application of mine water technologies was a notable opportunity.

“Australia’s mining sector consumes about four per cent annually of Australia’s national water consumption and has become very skilled in mine water management techniques,” Gosper said.

“Water is a real issue for Latin American mines including in  Peru and Chile and we will shortly be taking our water skillsets to Mexico so there is a strong opportunity there for Australian technologists in that space.”

Gosper said if junior resource plays needed any encouragement to move into Latin America, they only need look at the 60 per cent growth in two-way trade there in recent years to more than $8 billion annually in 2011-12.