Maxi-job on mini-budget

Press, 3 October 1979, Page 19

Maxi-job on mini-budget

Dr Jim Cole, president of the New Zealand Geological Society, shares Professor Crawford’s hope that the Ross Sea possibility will not result in a slow-down of exploration here. It should really have the opposite effect, he says, and encourage more prospecting activity in the Great South Basin. “If we go back in geological time it seems vert’ likely that at some stage New Zealand and Australia were joined. “In some ways the talk of hydrocarbons in the Ross Sea could indicate that the area to the south and south-east of New Zealand could also be very promising.” Dr Cole agrees that from the geological viewpoint New Zealand must do more drilling. “There is a tendency with both oil and minerals to say that New Zealand doesn’t have any. There is little justification for that. It is unlikely that we have any large simple oil-bearing structures, but there are structures that look promising. “The Geological Society has been critical of petroleum exploration, but we are very pleased that the Government is now encouraging overseas companies to come in and join Petrocorp in exploration. “We hope that exploration will continue but the geological structure of New Zealand is such that oil is not going to be easy to find. The country is

very geologically faulted, and more exploration is needed. “1 certainly hope that exploration will now

speed up, and that seems to be the Government’s intention. This should increase the chances of finding oil.”

Dr Cole considers that off-shore is the best prospect — the Great South Basin where Hunt Petroleum has drilled.

“There is no reason to be unduly pessimistic," he savs. "New Zealand’s geological structures are certainly worth looking at. “But it’s not only oil — we need some incentives for mineral exploration as well. There is no need for pessimism on the metallic mining side of things. “It is surprising that there are extensive deposits of minerals around the Pacific — for example at Rouganville, New Guinea, which has the largest open-cast copper mine in the world — and that none of any sienificance, have been found here. “Around the whole Pacific rim are to be found the so-called porphyry corners, associated with volcanicity 10 to 30 million years ago. These occur at Coromandel and in north-west Nelson. “Exploration here has been low-key. There is a feeling that Australia has the minerals and New Zealand hasn’t. It needs money to find these things. We have been trying to do a maxi-job on a mini-budget.” Dr Cole says that incentives like the tax concessions being made, for oil exploration compares are needed for mining too. “We are in a similar situation to that of Ireland about 20 years ago,” he says. "Ireland offered tax concessions to mining companies, and when they found copper there was a big boom which has been a considerable help to the economy.”