The South Australian Government is planning to increase the value of mineral and energy resource production to $10bn a year by 2017, creating 5,000 new jobs.
The government unveiled a resource production record of $7.5bn in 2013 to 2014.
South Australia Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis claimed that the new production record, which is up by $1.3bn on the previous financial year, is attributed to an increase of iron ore and petroleum production, and steady production of copper, gold and uranium.
Koutsantonis said:”We acknowledge the on-going challenges mineral explorers face from commodity prices to accessing global risk capital.
“But we recognise mining is a long-term venture and we will continue to take a long-term view in the development of our resource initiatives and policies.”
To achieve its goals, the government plans to increase cumulative investment in exploration and appraisal to $430m in the South Australian Cooper-Eromanga basins.
Plans also include attracting an additional ten service firms with a presence in South Australia and diversifying 20 non-mineral and energy suppliers into the resources sector.
The government said it needs to assist BHP Billiton in reaching the initial stage of identifying the full potential of Olympic Dam via its start of construction of the heap leach demonstration trial.
It should also achieve $140m in exploration and appraisal investment within the South Australian Cooper-Eromanga basins.
