Tasmania drives exploration – Australian Mining

The Tasmanian Government’s Exploration Drilling Grant Initiative (EDGI) has hit a key expenditure milestone, with a total investment of $8.2 million having been invested since 2018.

Seven new projects will share more than $497,000 through round 11 of EDGI, which encourages exploration for critical, strategic and precious metals across the state.

“Round 11 of the Tasmanian Government’s EDGI grants cover a range of critical, strategic and precious metals,” Tasmanian Business, Industry and Resources Minister Eric Abetz said.

“These projects will see 4000 metres of exploration drilling undertaken.”

The latest round includes projects targeting tin, copper, gold, antimony, lithium and other key minerals across sites such as Western Hills, Jukes North and Carbine Hill.

“This program is highly successful with $2.7 invested overall for every $1 put in by the Tasmanian Government, promising a significant return on the $3 million in funding approved through the program to-date,” Abetz said.

“These are great examples of the opportunities identified with the support of the program at new and existing sites, demonstrating its value to the state and sector.”

Abetz pointed to successful results from previous rounds as a sign of EDGI’s growing impact.

“Round 10 had seen some great outcomes like ABx Group’s new find at Temple Bar, an EDGI-funded discovery of significant concentrations of highly valuable rare-earth elements, particularly those used in permanent magnets,” Abetz said.

“Likewise, significant deposits of copper and gold mineralisation were also found with EDGI funding by CopperCorp at the Jukes prospect near Queenstown.”

In the past 12 months, the mining industry has generated over 64 per cent of Tasmania’s revenue and contributed to 6800 jobs.

“For an industry that is worth over $2.5 billion a year, we have a responsibility to make the most of our mineral resources to help grow our economy to benefit the next generation of Tasmanians,” Abetz said.