General situation of geological work in Australia at present

(1) Brief introduction of mineral resources in Australia

Australia is one of the most developed mining countries in the world, and it is in a leading position in mineral exploration, development, production, mineral processing and environmental management technology. At present, Australian mining accounts for 6.4% of GDP. The export of mineral products is 52.2 billion Australian dollars, accounting for 64% of product exports, 48% of commodity exports and 36% of total exports of goods and services. The number of people directly employed in the mining industry in Australia is103,000, accounting for 1% of the total employment in the country. In addition, 306,5438+0,000 people in the manufacturing industry are indirectly dependent on the mining industry. Private exploration investment is 654.38+07 billion Australian dollars, of which oil exploration accounts for 55.5%, gold exploration accounts for 23.4% and basic metals account for 8.9%. Australia's mining industry plays an important role in the world's mining supply pattern, and 80% of its mineral products are exported. Australia 16% of the new private sector investment is concentrated in the mining industry. The mineral and energy industries account for 25% of Australia's total wealth. Australia's wealth from minerals and energy industries is 2.5 times that of the other 20 richest countries.

In terms of output value, Australia's mineral sector ranks third in the world (after the United States and South Africa). Australia is the world's largest producer of bauxite, alumina, diamonds, ilmenite, rutile and zircon. The second largest zinc producer in the world (after China); The third largest producer of iron ore (after China and Brazil), nickel (after Russia and Canada) and gold (after South Africa and the United States); The fifth largest producer of aluminum and coal. Australia has the largest uranium resources in the world, accounting for 40% of the global total and 18% of the world output. Australia's geological and mining technical services are in a leading position in the world, and 60% of the mines in the world use Australian related software.

There are about 400 solid mineral deposits in Australia, of which more than 200 are in Western Australia. Western Australia accounts for 70% of Australia's gold production and 100% of its nickel production. Most iron ore, diamonds, bauxite, ore, manganese, tantalum and lithium are also produced in Western Australia. Western Australia also produces 60% of Australia's oil and 65% of its natural gas.

Australia is rich in energy resources and can play an important role in regional energy security. At present, Australian oil still needs to be imported, and its dependence on foreign countries is around 40%. But if we vigorously develop the oil and gas industry, it will play a more important role in the global energy market. According to analysis, Australia has not found about 5.03 billion barrels of oil resources, 6.035 billion barrels of condensate oil and 1 14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The economically proven resources are petroleum11680,000 barrels, condensate15.54 million barrels, natural gas 87 trillion cubic feet, and liquefied petroleum gas13.23 million barrels. The proven resources of sub-economy are 409 million barrels of oil, 707 million barrels of condensate oil, 52 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 493 million barrels of liquefied petroleum gas. From 2003 to 2004, Australia produced 65.438 billion barrels of crude oil, 45.3 million barrels of condensate oil, 29.2 million barrels of liquefied petroleum gas and 33.222 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The Australian Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Resources believes that Australia's oil and gas potential is still great, because at present, only 9,000 oil exploration wells have been drilled in the sedimentary basin (including offshore) of Australia 1.600× 1.04 km2, while the area of the Gulf of Mexico in the United States is smaller than that of the northwest shelf basin of Australia, but more than 60,000 wells have been drilled. Australia's oil exploration activities are mainly concentrated in the sea. Offshore oil production accounts for over 90% of Australia's oil production. It is mainly distributed in bass strait, Canavan Basin and Bonaparte Basin (Timor Sea) in Western Australia, and onshore oil is mainly distributed in copper basins in central Australia.

(b) Geological Work Management System in Australia

According to the law, the ownership of mineral resources in Australia belongs to the federal government and partly to the state government. In the Australian federal system, the rights and responsibilities of the federal government and the state government in resource exploration and development are different.

The federal government is mainly responsible for formulating national policies, including fiscal, monetary and tax policies, foreign investment guidelines, immigration policies, competition policies, trade and tariffs, company laws, international agreements and indigenous affairs; The state government is mainly responsible for the management and distribution of mineral and petroleum property rights, mainly responsible for land management, daily operation (including environment, occupational health and safety) and collection of mining area use fees.

In the division of specific rights, the federal government is responsible for: ① fiscal policy and investment system; (2) Reduce exploration risks (through two ways, one is to carry out geoscience projects, and the other is to strengthen the management of mining rights and improve land access conditions). The state government is responsible for: ① distributing mining rights; ② geoscience projects; ③ Management of exploration and mining, including environment and safety; (4) collection of royalties. Local governments are responsible for examining and approving construction plans and local infrastructure construction related to mining projects. It should be pointed out that if mineral resources are explored and developed in indigenous areas, the relevant mining companies must negotiate with the landowners in advance and sign the land use right agreement.

The federal government and the state government share the following four responsibilities in the exploration and development of mineral resources: ① establishing a good macroeconomic environment; (2) Take measures to cancel or reduce the restrictive factors that reduce the competitiveness of mining industry; (3) Reducing the commercial risks of exploration by generating and distributing geoscience information at a reasonable cost; ④ Establish a management framework for exploration, development, project approval, safety and environmental assessment.

In terms of specific mineral resources, the federal government ① owns the ownership of mineral resources in the sea area beyond 3 nautical miles and carries out daily management of these mineral resources; (2) Having the ownership of uranium mines in the north and conducting daily management; Other mineral resources are owned by the state government, but the federal government can control and influence them through environmental protection and safety regulations.

Neither the federal government nor the state governments are directly involved in commercial exploration and development.

At the federal level, the Australian Department of Industrial Tourism and Resources is responsible for national geological work and mineral resources management. The Australian Federal Government's Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources was renamed on the basis of the former Australian Department of Industry, Science and Tourism in 200 1. The earliest department in charge of minerals and energy in Australia is the Australian Department of National Development, which was established in March 1950. Later, Australia established the Department of Minerals and Energy in 1973, which was responsible for the development and management of minerals and energy in Australia. This department merged with the Ministry of National Development in 1979 to form the Australian Ministry of National Development and Energy, and in 1983, Australia established the Federal Department of Resources and Energy separately. 1987 The Ministry merged with the Federal Ministry of Primary Industries to form the Ministry of Primary Industries and Energy; 1998 the Ministry of primary industry and energy merged with the Australian Ministry of industry, science and tourism to form the Ministry of industry, science and resources. In 200 1 year, it was renamed as the Australian Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Resources. The evolution of Australia's Federal Department of Industrial Tourism and Resources reveals two development trends of its natural resources management system: one is the evolution from decentralized management of single-category resources to centralized and unified management of multi-category natural resources; Second, it evolves in the direction of moderate combination of resource management and industrial management; Third, the evolution to the integration of resource management, ecological management and asset management.

The state governments, through their Ministry of Mines and Energy (with different names but similar functions), manage the exploration and development of mineral resources according to the mining law (or mineral resources law) of each state. See table 3- 1 for the competent authorities of mineral resources in each state/region.

Table 3- 1 Department in charge of mineral resources management of Australian state government

The operational mechanism of geological work in Australia is smooth. Australian federal and state governments do not directly participate in commercial mineral exploration, and public geological work and commercial mineral exploration operate separately, but they echo each other: public geological work serves commercial mineral exploration, and the practice of commercial mineral exploration has formed a new demand and market for public geological work.

The government does not participate in commercial mineral exploration, but it plays a key role in commercial mineral exploration, which mainly includes ① taking law as the main means to ensure the orderly conduct of commercial mineral exploration activities: a. effectively protecting exploration rights; B. Low entry threshold and low entry cost for commercial mineral exploration; C. Reasonable withdrawal mechanism of commercial mineral exploration activities; ② Taking geological survey as the main means to provide effective services for commercial mineral exploration: a. Public geological survey promotes commercial mineral exploration; B. Work of the National Geological Survey of mineral exploration market economy; C. The main service means provided by geological survey for commercial mineral exploration is information service; (3) Take fiscal, taxation, financial and other policy control measures as the main means to make up for the inherent defects of the commercial mineral exploration market: a. Fully consider the particularity of commercial mineral exploration and mining activities in tax design; B. Under special circumstances, some financial subsidy measures shall be implemented for commercial mineral exploration; C. develop the mining capital market and encourage commercial mineral exploration; (4) To regulate the exploration right market as the main means, and implement appropriate supervision on commercial mineral exploration activities: a. Encourage industry self-discipline; B. create an honest environment; Make full use of information technology.

Australia's commercial mineral exploration has a good market environment and developed exploration business culture. First, commercial mineral exploration is regarded as an integral part of the mining industry. Australia divides the extractive industry into three parts: oil and gas industry, mining industry and quarrying industry, and its market operation mode and resource management mode are quite different. Mining refers to the exploration, mining and processing of solid minerals, including coal and uranium. Mining operation consists of six stages: mineral exploration, pre-feasibility study, feasibility study, mine construction, mine production and closed pit reclamation. Commercial mineral exploration is the starting point of mine life cycle and the most important part of mining industry. Generally speaking, Australian mineral exploration only refers to strategic selection, field investigation, target area determination, target area confirmation and deposit existence confirmation, which is somewhat different from the investigation and prospecting work in China. This is the stage with the lowest success rate, the highest risk and the most uncertain return of mining investment, which determines the operation mode of commercial mineral exploration market. Pre-feasibility study and feasibility study include detailed investigation and exploration in China, such as systematic and encrypted drilling engineering, resource/reserve calculation, hydrogeological exploration in mining area, mineral processing test, etc.

(3) Australian geological survey institutions and their evolution

The public welfare geological work in Australia is mainly undertaken by the Australian Geological Survey (GA) under the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Resources of the federal government. The public geological work in each state is carried out by the Geological Survey under the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (Table 3-2).

Table 3-2 Departments of Australian State Governments Responsible for Public Welfare Geological Survey

Australian geological survey institutions are still changing. Judging from its historical evolution, the content of geological survey is constantly changing, but the purpose of taking service as the core has not changed. The Australian Geological Survey (GA) was formerly the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics (BMR), which was established in 1946. The main task of BMR is to carry out systematic geological mapping and geophysical mapping to ensure wise mineral exploration. The land area of 770× 104km2 was mapped according to the scale of 1 inch: 4 miles (later changed to1:250,000). BMR also set up an office in Papua New Guinea and carried out local systematic mapping.

In the early 1970s, the systematic mapping was basically completed, and BMR began to map the continental shelf and continental slope. The "continental margin survey" project has carried out a survey of 6.5438+0.85 million line kilometers. The onshore survey focuses on detailed geological, geophysical and geochemical studies of characteristic mineralized areas, and strives to combine geological data with mineral and deposit data.

From 65438 to 0978, BMR shifted its focus to continental shelf and sea area, and paid less attention to regional geological survey and geological mapping. At that time, the government's demand was mainly offshore oil research, so BMR focused on offshore oil survey to support the federal government to formulate relevant policies. In 1980s, BMR developed remote sensing and groundwater investigation. At the same time, carry out geological disaster assessment and other work.

In the early 1990s, BMR signed the "National Cooperative Geological Mapping Agreement" with the state governments, aiming at using new technologies to carry out the second round of geological mapping on land. These maps are digital, including many information layers, and are generally based on GIS system.

1992 BMR was renamed Australian Geological Survey (AGSO). The positioning of AGSO is to provide geoscience information and support the exploration and development of Australian oil and minerals. At the same time, the role of geographic information in other fields of social and economic development began to appear.

In August of 20001year, AGSO was renamed Australian Bureau of Geosciences (GA) again, which further expanded the breadth and depth of its services in terms of geographic information acquisition and service. The goal of GA is to use geoscience research and information to serve Australia's economic, social and environmental welfare, and to serve the wise decision-making of resource development, environmental management, safety and community welfare. As far as the current main tasks of the Australian Geological Survey are concerned, they can be roughly summarized as follows: ① Further improve the national geological research level. ② Evaluation of mineral energy (including energy and water resources). (3) Systematically investigate and study the environmental geological problems and disaster geological problems induced by natural geological processes and geological processes, clarify the causes and development laws of various geological processes that endanger social development and human survival, scientifically predict geological disasters, and take effective measures to protect the environment from destruction. (4) Develop new advanced technologies and methods for geological survey (especially geological mapping), mineral exploration and environmental geological work, such as drilling methods, geophysical and geochemical exploration methods, remote sensing technology, deep-sea exploration technology, geological experiment technology, various testing methods and surveying and mapping technology. ⑤ Systematically collect and store various geological (including mineral resources) information, and establish various geological databases to provide services for government decision-making, planning management, social public utilities and geological work.

In fact, providing information is very important for commercial mineral exploration. Mining companies' understanding of metallogenic prospect depends on existing geological knowledge, technical ability and geological creativity and concepts. All prospective assessments basically rely on geoscience data, concepts and knowledge that can provide a framework for successful exploration and discovery. T.G. Powell of AGSO (the predecessor of GA) in Australia once pointed out that "modern information related to the prospect is very important for a country to actively develop and maintain its competitiveness in exploration investment". In Australia, geological survey institutions have played and will continue to play an important role in deciding what to look for and where to look for it. Woodall, a famous Australian economic geologist, said: "At the stage of production exploration projects, the ability to conceive useful conceptual models is only limited by the density of available and reliable geological, geochemical and geophysical data and our understanding of the physics and chemistry of the earth interaction process ... most of the data come from the valuable national geological science database collected by government geological survey institutions and universities". T.G. Powell of AGSO in Australia pointed out that the significance of performance requirements for Australian geological survey institutions lies in the quality, level and scope of information services, not in the achievements made by the geological survey institutions themselves, not to mention the discovery of several mines.

The state has a systematic performance evaluation mechanism for the Australian Geological Survey, and established evaluation indicators accordingly. Its main achievement is: "by using first-class earth science research and information, Australia's potential for economic, social and environmental benefits is improved." It mainly includes five evaluation indicators, as shown in Table 3-3.

The Australian Bureau of Geosciences has a series of detailed professional ethics and articles of association.

The Australian Bureau of Geosciences currently has 639 employees. Among them, there are 543 regular employees and 96 contract employees. In 2004, there were 65,438+006 new employees (including 36 regular employees and 70 contract employees) and 73 retired and resigned employees (including 37 regular employees and 36 contract employees). Among the 639 people, 45 1 were male and 0/88 were female. The salary is divided into 19 grades, with the highest salary of15,000 Australian dollars and the lowest salary of 27,000 Australian dollars.

Table 3-3 Australian Bureau of Geosciences Performance Indicators

In 2004-2005, the national budget of the Australian Geological Survey was 1.0 1.055 million, and the income from other sources was 9.797 million. The national budget accounts for 9 1.2% of the total funds of Australian geological survey institutions.

Except for Western Australia, where there are more than 100 people, the Geological Survey of Australian States generally has 20-50 employees, and the total number of employees in six states and northern regions is estimated to be 300-400. In this way, the total number of people engaged in public geological survey in Australia is about 1000.

Australia formulated the national geological science strategic plan in 2003, which was mainly implemented by the Australian Geological Survey. The key tasks and work of the plan are divided into four aspects: education, research, sustainable development and wealth creation. It is worth noting that one of its recent research focuses is carbon dioxide sequestration, which can alleviate environmental pressure on the one hand; On the other hand, Australia tries to regard this as an important asset.

At present, the total number of Australian geologists is estimated to be 5,000-6,000, and it is 5,067 in 200 1 year, of which more than half are engaged in mineral resources exploration and development, 1303 are engaged in commercial services, 366 are engaged in engineering geology, and 425 are employed by government management departments. At present, there are about 600 ~ 800 freshmen in geoscience universities every year, and the number of freshmen studying geoscience is directly related to the annual expenditure level of mineral exploration in Australia.

According to the Policy Intelligence report published by M. Matthews in Canberra in 2003, the value of underground assets will increase by 1 .80 Australian dollars every time the government invests1Australian dollars in geoscience research and development.

The National Geological Survey plays a key role in solving major geological problems and mineral exploration in China.

Let's take the Geological Survey under the Western Australian Ministry of Industry and Resources as an example to illustrate the functions of the National Geological Survey. The function of the Geological Survey of Western Australia is to "make Western Australia a key area for international mineral and oil exploration by providing high-quality geoscience products"; The main tasks are: "to study the geological framework of Western Australia, reveal the metallogenic potential and petroleum potential of Western Australia, and provide high-quality spatial geoscience information, regional geology, geophysical and geochemical exploration maps and report products; Serve government decision-making, provide support for mineral exploration, and meet the diversified needs of society, including urban planning and land use. " At present, the Geological Survey of Western Australia has 65,438+045 employees, which is the largest number of state geological surveys.

The main projects currently implemented by the Geological Survey of Western Australia include: ① petroleum system research and petroleum exploration data; (two) mineral resources evaluation and mineral exploration data; ③ Regional geoscience mapping; ④ Scientific, technical and on-site support (including core banks).

At present, online geoscience databases provided by the Geological Survey of Western Australia are: ① Interactive geoscience data and maps (geoview.wa); ② mineral exploration data (WAMEX); ③ Oil exploration data; (4) Minedex; ⑤ Electronic Exchange of Aerogeophysical Information (MAGIX). It is precisely because the public welfare geological survey service is in place that Western Australia accounts for 65,438+00% of the total global mineral exploration expenditure and 60% of the national mineral exploration investment.