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The earth is moving in the Greater Katherine Region of Australia’s Northern Territory, with a flurry of exploration activity currently taking place and more land being pegged by major market players.
Up 35 percent from the previous year, expenditure figures are also pointing to a promising future, says Dr. Ian Srimgeour of the Northern Territory Geological Survey, ahead of the Katherine Regional Resources Conference – 16-17 May 2019.
“Considering the current trajectory – and with commodity prices remaining upward – I’m fairly confident that we will see continued growth for the next couple of years at least”, he said.
“Naturally, following the lifting of the moratorium of hydraulic fracturing, we’re expecting a major increase in oil and gas activity; particularly, the recommencement of shale gas exploration in the Beetaloo Sub-basin.
“Gold has also been a key star, with significant exploration work currently being led by the likes of PNX Metals, Bacchus Resources and Kirkland Lake Gold”, he said.
“Gold is now very strong in Australian Dollar terms. This has generated significant interest in the region and prompted the revitalisation of activity in the Pine Creek gold field. We expect that several new mines will be starting up here in the coming years”.
Dr. Scrimgeour says the Katherine region has the right mix of commodities to meet the needs of emerging markets, globally.
“A growing interest in battery commodities is driving a lot of cobalt and lithium exploration in the territory. There are some quite significant lithium deposits, just south of Darwin – which will hopefully come into production in the next 12 months or so”.
To foster further growth, the NT government has been working on a number of initiatives to better understand the resource potential of the area and attract more exploration, through the $26 million Resourcing the Territory exploration intiative.
A collaboration with Geoscience Australia, through the Barkly region, is opening up vast new parts of the territory for exploration. “It’s certainly an exciting time in that area”, said Ian.
This includes acquisition of a large seismic survey, along with a number of geophysical surveys. “All these new data sets will give us a really good picture of what the underlying geology looks like”, he added.
Dr. Ian Scrimgeour is Executive Director of the Northern Territory Geological Survey. Presenting at the Katherine Regional Resources Conference – 16-17 May 2019, Dr. Scrimgeour will provide detailed insights into the exploration activity currently happening in the region and outline survey findings to date.