Magnetic map to pull in foreign investors
Magnetic map to pull in foreign investors
The magnetic pull of Queensland could be tugging at the purse strings of foreign mining investors. Geoscience Australia has just released the latest magnetic anomaly map of the state and believes the data on this map will pull in more overseas mining companies.
The Queensland magnetic anomaly map consists of data from all the composite grid maps of the state. Up to 110 publicly available survey grids are combined into the new map. These grids have been produced by state and federal government as well as private companies. Ross Franklin, a geoscientist at Geoscience Australia said that there has been a lot of new data on Queensland collected in recent years and that this new map is a "compilation of all the grids."
Magnetic anomaly maps allow users to view the maps to see the deposits of mineral resources in Queensland, using geographic information systems (GIS) applications. Mr Franklin explained that users will be able to overlay the information from this map with other GIS information to build up different views of vital geoscience information.
The maps were produced as part of a collaborative effort by Geoscience Australia and the Department of Natural resources and Mines to provide Australia wide coverage of magnetic data. It is believed by the Queensland state government that access to this information will encourage investment into Australia.
"This up to date geoscience information will help to attract international investment to Queensland and assist exploration companies find new mineral deposits," said Warren Entsh, the federal minister for industry, tourism and resources. Queensland has many foreign mines extracting minerals and shipping them overseas. It is estimated that the industry brings in $4 billion for the state.
"This map will not be used to find new mineral deposits. It provides a broad overview of the mineral deposits in Queensland," Mr Franklin said. He added that the head offices of mining companies and educational institutions are common users of this type of map.
Geoscience Australia can provide end users with the map as a CD-ROM.
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