Having experienced several boom and bust cycles during the past few decades, observations can be made concerning the consistent inability of the resources sector to deal with key issues effectively. Direct consequences of this are the rapidly decreasing discovery rate for major metal deposits and alarming rising exploration costs. There are a number of fundamental reasons why the global exploration industry remains in a crisis. These include very poor management of many major resource company by executives with limited understanding of how exploration should be directed and funded, increased levels of bureaucracy created by inexperienced policy makers resulting in reduced field time for capable explorers and the inability of many major and mid-tier mining companies to realize that mine site and exploration cultures are not the same, each operating with very different parameters and goals. Furthermore, the herd mentality and budget knee jerk reactions remain serial problems for many of the major resource companies, which directly impacts maintenance and training of the exploration teams expected to make the new discoveries. If current trends in declining resource discoveries continues, and demand for metals consistently rises then what are the consequences for society? Significant advances in geochemical, geophysical, remote sensing, drilling, metallurgical and mining technology are all contributing to more cost-effective exploration, however they do not substitute for the fundamental time-proven requirement to have highly experienced exploration teams in the field with boots and hammer.
CITATION: Kirwin, D J, 2019. The business of mineral exploration, challenges and future trends, in Proceedings PACRIM 2019, pp 3233 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).