The importance of Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) grants in bringing mines online with a supportive market is being played out in North Queensland.

Aeon Metals, with exploration leases throughout Queensland including in the Gulf of Carpentaria at Walford Creek and west of Mount Isa at Beauchamps, has received several CEI grants since they were introduced in the late 2000s.

The grants are managed by the State’s Geological Survey of Queensland.

Fast track towards mining

Aeon Metals exploration manager Dan Johnson says the process of discovery, validation and mining takes years and is not necessarily aligned to market cycles.

Mr Johnson says money for exploration is not a challenge in a bull market but junior miners can be friendless when the market is down.

Sun Cable to power Walford Creek mining operation

“First introduced as CDI grants during the GFC, it came at an important time,” he says, “And there was some good thinking in the department by people who recognized that if they didn’t want the junior sector, in particular, to be decimated, it was an opportunity for government to step in and inject some funds to try and stimulate some of that exploration activity. That’s been the case since.”

Aeon has received an estimated $400,000 in grants under the Collaborative Exploration Initiative since 2014. 

Mr Johnson says an important upgrade has been to fully fund applications during the last round in 2020.

Keeping the wheels turning

While base and precious metals are both now in favour, he says the grant has helped keep drillers, laboratories and others in business when pickings are otherwise slim.

“… it’s very hard to train up a good driller quickly, let alone even an offsider. And this scheme is aimed as much at those companies and people as at the exploration companies themselves.

“So, we’re able then to go, ‘We’ve got some money and we want to use one of your drill rigs, can you round up some people and a rig?’ And so forth” 

“At times, when the market’s down, they can be really struggling. They don’t know how to keep their trained workforce.

“They lay these people off for a time being, saying, ‘Look, we’ll give you a call hopefully in a week or two, but it could be months.’ So, these grants can assist in  providing work for those people as well as keeping the exploration companies active.”

New frontiers

Mr Johnson says ongoing exploration work continues to reveal the potential of the Walford Creek mineral system, around 100km north of the Century zinc mine.  

“The (Walford Creek) mineral system, is over 12km long. It’s really surprised a lot of people, because it’s not like anything we’ve actually really seen in Australia. 

“It has a number of geological similarities to the Mount Isa mineral system with significant critical metals including copper, lead, zinc but also with high grade cobalt. It’s a fascinating system geologically and we are working hard to develop it.’ 

“At Beauchamps, while its under 100m of cover, it is showing some of the same alteration characters as some IOCG systems further to the east. We believe that we might just be opening up a new mineral frontier for exploration.”

The next round of CEI grants is due to be announced this month (March 21).

Aeon Metals (AML) closed on the ASX yesterday at 0.12AUD.