QRC welcomes Federal Government’s $125 million exploration boost

THE Queensland Resources Council has welcomed the Federal Government’s $125 million funding extension to Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) Program.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the investment would lead to a clearer understanding of the geological structures in Queensland and Australia.

“This is a vote of confidence in the exploration industry from the Morrison Government and I congratulate the Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt for backing the exploration industry which is hurting from the economic impacts from COVID-19," Mr Macfarlane said. 

“Geoscientific data plays a critical role in framing policy settings from government and this program provides an in-depth understanding of our resource assets which belong to all Queenslanders.”

QRC’s exploration focused member organisation the Queensland Exploration Council (QEC) said this program was a vital tool for the exploration industry. 

“Queensland is blessed with a rich source of minerals and the skilled people to find them. Connecting this to supportive governments will ensure the minerals discovered today are the foundations of tomorrow’s resources industry,” QEC chair Kim Wainwright said.

‘Industry has long understood the return on investment potential of geoscience data and the recent ACIL Allen analysis showed the total potential benefits flowing from the activities in the current EFTF could be between $446 million and $2.5 billion."

The EFTF program has been in operation for four years.  

Link to Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) Program: https://www.ga.gov.au/eftf

Link to ACIL Allen analysis: https://www.acilallen.com.au/projects/program-evaluation/exploring-for-the-future-program-return-on-investment-analysis

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