Mining
has long been an important activity for the people of
Australia
. The
Aboriginals used rocks and minerals in their culture many thousand years before
European settlement. It was not until 1840 that silver-lead ore was discovered
in the
Mount
Lofty
Ranges
, and developed as Australia's first metalliferous mine.
The mining industry contributes significantly to all
aspects of the Australian economy, generating substantial employment
opportunities, investment and income, export earnings and royalties for
Governments. While the mining industry in South Australia is small by comparison with Western
Australia, Queensland and
New South
Wales, it is nevertheless a very important industry in
the State.

With the discovery of the world's third largest
Cu-Au-U-Ag resource at Olympic Dam in 1975, the State saw a period of intense
exploration activity through the early to mid-1980s. However, failure to locate
additional world class deposits saw a dramatic reduction in exploration activity
during the late 1980s. A perceived lack of prospectivity was compounded by the
recognition that exploration for such deposits was neither easy nor inexpensive
in
South Australia
because more than 80% of the State is masked
by surficial sand and silt.