Tuesday, August 2, 2011


A High Level Delegation from Australia called on Minister of Mines Shri Dinsha Patel

A high level delegation led by Mr. Mike Rann, Premier of South Australia called on the Minister of State for Mines (Independent Charge), Shri Dinsha Patel, to discuss cooperation between India and the State of South Australia in the field of Geology and Mineral Resources. Shri S. Vijay Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Mr. Peter Varghese, Australian High Commissioner were also present.

Australia is recognised as one of the major mineral producing countries. Australia produces a variety of minerals. South Australia is known to have abundant resources of Iron Ore, Copper, Uranium, Gold, Silver, Base Metals, Coal and Magnesite. It also has a highly developed mining industry using advanced geological concepts and technology.

In the meeting the focus was on the possibilities for increasing business interactions between India and Australia in the mining sector. India expects to benefit from the highly successful experiences of South Australia in the fields of geo-scientific studies, exploration, mineral investigations, geothermal technology and general administrative and environment management issues.

During the meeting the Premier informed that a vast area, called ‘Woomera’ has been opened up for mining and stated that South Australia’s economy is under transformation. It has extremely huge deposits of Uranium, copper and gold. Premier invited Indian companies to directly invest in mining in South Australia.

Hon’ble Minister of State for Mines emphasising similarities between the two countries, sharing similar heritage, federal structure and constitution features envisaged increased cooperation encompassing the fields of geoscience and geoscientific education as well as exploration and mining technology.

He stated that with liberalization of the Indian mining regime, India has received a good response from the Australian mining companies. A number of Australian mining companies have been granted approval for exploration and they are already operating in India. In future India expects that more Australian companies may come to explore mine.

Both sides emphasized for increased cooperation and establishing a mechanism for meeting on a regular basis in future

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