Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Minerals Council of Australia NT Executive Director Cathryn Tilmouth says a new report has found the NT is the best in the world for minerals potential but only when it comes to the geology

Transcript

Minerals Council of Australia NT Executive Director Cathryn Tilmouth says a new report has found the NT is the best in the world for minerals potential but only when it comes to the geology · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now it looks as though there's some positive news at
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  Speaker 1: the moment. The Northern Territory this week ranked as the
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  Speaker 1: leading jurisdiction in the world for mineral potential. That is
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  Speaker 1: according to the latest Fraser Institute annual survey of mining companies.
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  Speaker 2: It is a positive step when.
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  Speaker 1: You know, when you think about what this means for
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  Speaker 1: the minerals industry in the Northern Territory. And joining me
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  Speaker 1: in the studio to tell us a little bit more
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  Speaker 1: is Catherine Tilmouth, who is indeed the executive director of
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  Speaker 1: the Minerals Council here in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. Nice to be here.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, great to have you in the studio. Thanks so
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  Speaker 1: much for your time. It does seem like it's a
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  Speaker 1: big change for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: Are we the leading jurisdiction?
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  Speaker 4: Now, I'll have to explain this one a little bit
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  Speaker 4: in a little bit more detail. So what this announcement
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  Speaker 4: that the Anti government has put out has said that
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  Speaker 4: we are the leading jurisdiction for mineral potential. So even
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  Speaker 4: in the explanation from the Fraser Institute that we are
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  Speaker 4: the leading jurisdic that assuming that we would have the
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  Speaker 4: best practices in place. So all of the policies, all
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  Speaker 4: of the environmental regulations, all of the policies and processes,
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  Speaker 4: all of the government, take away all of those hurdles
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  Speaker 4: and we were just focusing on the geology.
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  Speaker 3: So just the minerals, just the rocks, then we are the.
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  Speaker 4: Best raw And so I've spoken to you about this before.
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  Speaker 4: There is absolutely nothing wrong with the rocks. With the
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  Speaker 4: potential for the mining in the territory that is the best.
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  Speaker 4: Then territory has so much in abundance, so much potential.
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  Speaker 4: So that is what this survey is saying. When it
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  Speaker 4: comes down to just focusing on the geology, the territory
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  Speaker 4: is the best. So that would just assume that no
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  Speaker 4: one had anything to complain about in any of the processes.
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  Speaker 3: We are the best.
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  Speaker 2: Fortunately, we know that there's not a person.
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  Speaker 4: We are not in a perfect world, so take away
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  Speaker 4: that utopian scenario.
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  Speaker 3: We have a little bit to work on.
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  Speaker 4: We have improved a bit, yes, definitely, we have come up,
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  Speaker 4: come up a bit, and we are now at number six,
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  Speaker 4: which is a huge.
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  Speaker 3: Step for the territory.
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  Speaker 4: There are still things to work on, and that's what
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  Speaker 4: the Mineral's Development Task Force has put forward some recommendations
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  Speaker 4: to work on. So they are things like the royalties
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  Speaker 4: that things like the environmental regulation processes to remove some
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  Speaker 4: of the duplication. There's things like timelines that some of
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  Speaker 4: these mining companies during this survey process did complain about
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  Speaker 4: times to get permits approved. Things like perception about whether
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  Speaker 4: or not it's still is a good place to invest
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  Speaker 4: your money in.
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  Speaker 3: There is still that reality.
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  Speaker 4: Are you going to spend your money in the territory
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  Speaker 4: when you could go across the border to Western Australia.
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  Speaker 4: Those are realities. There is still that in your face reality.
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  Speaker 4: Do we have as many minds as West Australia. No?
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  Speaker 4: So yes, So there is the great but there's a
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  Speaker 4: bit of a way to go still around.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I wondered, you know when I did read this pressure
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  Speaker 1: release and thought, look, this sounds like it's really good.
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  Speaker 1: We've had previous discussions with your predecessor as well, Drew Wagner,
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  Speaker 1: about this and about you know, the Fraser Institutes and
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  Speaker 1: your survey of mining and how we'd slipped down the
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  Speaker 1: ladder really quite badly in previous years.
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  Speaker 2: So there is improvement, there is confidence.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, confidence and what do you reckons change, what sort
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  Speaker 1: of changed over the last year or so to give
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  Speaker 1: some of those mining companies some more confidence in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern territory.
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  Speaker 4: Look, one thing that we stand out against the rest
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  Speaker 4: of the crowd for is our pre competitive geological data.
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  Speaker 4: So the things like the ANTGS, we're very open.
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  Speaker 3: We've got a lot of.
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  Speaker 4: Those conferences like AGES that really shares that data. And
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  Speaker 4: we've had a lot of confidence put into the market
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  Speaker 4: with those projects like call Lithia YEP that have shown
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  Speaker 4: that we've got these discoveries and these are the new technologies,
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  Speaker 4: the rareer, the critical minerals that we're going to need
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  Speaker 4: for the clean energy future, and that we have them
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  Speaker 4: in abundance in the territory and we have that data
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  Speaker 4: that shows where they are to come to the territory.
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  Speaker 4: So that sort of confidence is building and so that
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  Speaker 4: is helping with the confidence in investing in the territory.
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  Speaker 4: So once we get the regulatory framework in place and
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  Speaker 4: we show that the government is behind us and they
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  Speaker 4: want us to succeed, then I think we will start
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  Speaker 4: moving up that scale a bit more.
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  Speaker 1: And I know there's always environmental concerns, there's people that
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  Speaker 1: always have those concerns and don't want, you know, I
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  Speaker 1: don't want a situation where the Northern Territory is mine
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  Speaker 1: to the point of, you know, of having a huge impact.
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  Speaker 1: But the reality here is there are a lot of
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  Speaker 1: different procedures and protocols that companies need to go through
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  Speaker 1: before they can even get to the point of mining
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, and environmental approval in the Northern Territory is a
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  Speaker 4: full life cycle approval. It is from exploration and then
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  Speaker 4: once you get that approval all the way through to rehabilitation.
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  Speaker 1: Now, tell me how are things going at the moment
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  Speaker 1: in terms of different projects that are underway and what's
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  Speaker 1: sort of on the horizon.
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  Speaker 4: You've seen things like cor lithium that have come off
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  Speaker 4: and have been quite successful and had a very exciting announcement.
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  Speaker 4: I think it was only just last week to see
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  Speaker 4: that they had their shipment and then another approval. We've
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  Speaker 4: got so many things that are looking very exciting in
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  Speaker 4: the Tenant Creek area. So much copper, I think it
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  Speaker 4: was even the International Energy Agency said that the world
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  Speaker 4: is going to need to mine as much copper in
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  Speaker 4: the next twenty years as had been produced in human history. Wow,
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  Speaker 4: so seven hundred million tons to meet the Paris Agreement
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  Speaker 4: climate goals. I'm reading this because it's such a huge
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  Speaker 4: figure to be able to reach those things. So we've
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  Speaker 4: got those sort of projects happening in ten Creek, so
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  Speaker 4: they're really exciting, and those sort of projects can see
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  Speaker 4: such a huge change in not just the economic framework
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  Speaker 4: in Tentercreek, but even help with social issues, with jobs
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  Speaker 4: and investment in those sorts of areas.
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  Speaker 1: It makes a huge Like, as a girl who grew
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  Speaker 1: up in mounta Aser, I've seen over the years just
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  Speaker 1: how big a difference it can make when a mine
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  Speaker 1: really scales up and when there is work going on,
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  Speaker 1: particularly with something like copper, and the way in which
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  Speaker 1: the whole town changes. You know, you go from a
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  Speaker 1: situation where you may not have too many people, the
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  Speaker 1: population sort of declining, and then all of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: things are booming. You know, you've got everybody playing football again,
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  Speaker 1: You've got sports flourishing, you've got all different types of things.
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  Speaker 2: Fishing opening back up.
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  Speaker 4: Another teller of the post office, the jail care centers
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  Speaker 4: double those sorts of things.
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  Speaker 2: It does create jobs for people.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a lot of minds in that area, rehab
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  Speaker 4: work going on, and with new technology you get them
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  Speaker 4: being able to rework the tailings and those sorts of
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  Speaker 4: areas and go back through them and reprocess and re
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  Speaker 4: rehabilitate those areas as well. So lots of exciting things
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  Speaker 4: in those sorts of areas. And then again you've got
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  Speaker 4: the rarest and critical minerals, which are smaller, boutique kind
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  Speaker 4: of mining projects, but they're the exciting ones that I
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  Speaker 4: think that've got people's really captured their interest and imagination
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  Speaker 4: with the new technologies that are around now.
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  Speaker 1: Last time you and I spoke as well, there's been
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  Speaker 1: some changes if I remember correctly, around the royalties, or
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  Speaker 1: there was.
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  Speaker 2: Going to be. There was discussion about it. Where are
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  Speaker 2: things at there?
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  Speaker 4: So when they released the Minerals Development Task Force report,
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  Speaker 4: they have released all of those recommendations.
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  Speaker 3: There is now going to be.
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  Speaker 4: A consultation process for the majority of those recommendations for
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  Speaker 4: twelve months and then the royalties component. They're going to
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  Speaker 4: do that or sorry, for three months for the majority
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  Speaker 4: and for the royalties component they will do that consultation
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  Speaker 4: for twelve months. So that will be the bit that
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  Speaker 4: go out to all of the traditional owners and land
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  Speaker 4: councils that are going to be impacted because it makes
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  Speaker 4: a difference to the money that goes from the common
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  Speaker 4: Wealth Government into the Aboriginal Benefits account.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Kat, my understanding is well, I mean there's been
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  Speaker 1: lots of discussion about fracking over the last couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 1: That doesn't fall so much under the Minerals Council, does it. No?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's all right. I won't ask any.
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  Speaker 1: Questions about that, will leave that. I mean, I guess
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  Speaker 1: there is you know, there's so much discussion, but it
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  Speaker 1: does seem as though things are starting to forge your head.
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  Speaker 1: I know that there is still some opposition, but it
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  Speaker 1: does seem as though things are going to forge your head.
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  Speaker 2: And it's been a long time coming, really, hasn't it.
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  Speaker 2: With the fracking.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, with the resources, with the resources industry, I think
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  Speaker 4: it all in all, I can put a big, huge
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  Speaker 4: resources hat on, not just a mining horror gas hat.
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  Speaker 4: Resources is such a backbone for the Northern Territory. It
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  Speaker 4: is something that is going to help us as the
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  Speaker 4: Northern Territory, pay the bills. It's going to help us
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  Speaker 4: create jobs for everybody it's going to help us become
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  Speaker 4: a bigger and stronger territory together. And we need these
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  Speaker 4: sorts of things, we need to be able to stand
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  Speaker 4: on our own feet. And it's something that we have
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  Speaker 4: and that we own as the Northern Territorians that we
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  Speaker 4: can use as an asset and it's up to us
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  Speaker 4: to be able to use that asset to make our
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  Speaker 4: own way forward.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Catherine Tilmouth, the chief or the executive director I
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  Speaker 1: should serve the Mineral S Council of Australia's Northern Territory Branch.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning. Thanks
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  Speaker 1: so much for coming in.
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  Speaker 3: No wries