In July 1994 the Premier, John Fahey MP, announced that the
New South Wales Government would make available a total of
$40 million over six years in new funding for the Department of
Mineral Resources. These funds are to be applied directly to the
generation of regional geological and geophysical information.
The Government's initiative known as `Discovery 2000', is
aimed at providing a major boost to the exploration industry. The
Government expects new discoveries to be made and new mines
to be developed because of the initiative and, perhaps, the first
ever commercial oil or gas production in New South Wales. The
Government's return will come from increased economic activity,
and from the increased royalty return from higher levels of
production. Quality information is the key to successful exploration. In the
highly competitive business of mineral and petroleum exploration
high quality regional geological and geophysical information
improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of the area
selection or project generation process. Using the `needle in the
hay stack' analogy, Discovery 2000 will vastly improve
industry's chances of finding the haystacks. It is up to the
mineral and petroleum industries to find their respective
`needles'. Careful target area selection is probably the most
critical factor in mineral exploration. The ability to select the
most prospective areas, or to identify prospectivity that others
have failed to recognise, can make all the difference between
success and failure. Government geological surveys clearly have a crucial role to
play in providing the geoscientific information infrastructure that
companies must have if they are to make the discoveries this
country needs to pay its way in the world. It is the regional
information generated by Governments that sets the scene for
efficient exploration. This regional information includes regional
aeromagnetics and radiometrics and gravity, regional geological
mapping and tectonic analysis, and geoscientific databases. The
New South Wales Department of Mineral Resources (by various
names) has been providing such information for over 100 years
and has led the way in many aspects of the generation and
dissemination of geological, geophysical and metallogenic
Information.