South Australia maintains exploration PACE
THE DRILL SERGEANT: South Australia Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis has announced 27 resource exploration projects, which are to share $2 million in grants as part of the State’s Plan for Accelerating Exploration (PACE) Discovery Drilling 2015.
PACE is an initiative of the South Australian Government that co-funds selected drilling projects from exploration companies in a bid to stimulate the next crop of greenfield discoveries.
The initiative is designed to allow the government to help share in the financial and technical risk of exploration.
“The current suite of proposed drilling programs represents a significant push into frontier areas of the State over the next year and clearly demonstrates the range of active projects and companies exploring in South Australia,” Koutsantonis said when announcing the latest recipients.
“These 27 proposals were selected from a pool of 35 high-quality applications and show a broad distribution throughout South Australia and target a range of commodities.
“The value of government investment is multiplied when considering the industry contribution, so $2 million in co-funding grants will draw an estimated additional investment of $4.9 million from these explorers.”
Koutsantonis explained PACE to be one of the ways the SA state government has worked in partnership with industry to invest in long term exploration success.
Since its inception the scheme has helped to establish South Australia’s international credentials as a favoured destination for mineral resource investment.
“The drilling collaboration programs provided through PACE have played a significant role in delivering new discoveries and maintaining exploration momentum in South Australia,” Koutsantonis said.
“As we have seen through previous rounds, these drilling collaborations produce a wealth of new, open-file data and exploration information from all areas of the State and have delivered a number of significant new mineral discoveries.
“While the complementary PACE Mineral Systems Drilling program is strongly focused on unravelling the complexity of the Gawler Craton, the PACE Discovery Drilling 2015 supports new exploration projects all over South Australia.”
This current round of funding is planned to close in May 2016 with all the drilling data, assays and reporting released shortly after.
Beneficiaries this year include Musgrave Minerals (ASX: MGV), which is eligible to receive $90,000 for drilling at the Roslin zinc and Zarek nickel-copper targets on the company’s Mimili project in the South Australian Musgrave region and $55,000 for drilling at the Corunna silver-lead-zinc project in the Southern Gawler Craton region.
“We are delighted with the State Government’s support for the two projects and look forward to drilling,” Musgrave Minerals managing director Rob Waugh said.
“Both projects are in highly prospective underexplored terrains with significant exploration potential.”
Core Exploration (ASX: CXO) has been awarded co‐funding to drill the company’s Yerelina zinc‐lead‐silver project on EL 5015 in northern South Australia.
Core will receive a grant of $75,000 to go towards its proposed drilling project, which comprises six angled diamond core holes targeted under known outcropping mineralisation to better understand grade distribution, mineralisation potential and geological controls.
Monax Mining (ASX: MOX) secured funds for its Kimberlite and Punt Hill projects, and its Farm-In partners, Western Areas (ASX: WSA) also received funding for the Western Gawler Craton project.
Monax received its full application of $70,000 to drill the company’s Kimberlite project – located in northern South Australia – and is focussed on the Margaret Dam target, where a drilling program is planned for June/July 2015.
The company is eligible for a further $75,000 in PACE funding for its Punt Hill IOCG project, which will be used to continue drilling at the Groundhog prospect.
Source: South Australia Department of State Development