In an address to the Mining & Engineering Western Australia conference yesterday morning, AMEC national policy manager Graham Short said Australia faced serious challenges from other jurisdictions.

He said the exploration sector was under extreme financial pressure, with the number of discoveries falling as deposits got deeper and harder to find.

Along with the fall in exploration, Short said new fundraisings and independent offerings in the resource sector were low, with restricted cash and uncertainty in government policy and commodity prices hurting the local outlook.

“I'm trying not to preach doom and gloom but unfortunately these are the facts,” he said.

Short said the number of mining jurisdictions around the world had risen dramatically over the last few years, with some emerging regions showing “mind blowing” advancements.

“International competitiveness is a major, major issue and it's one that Australia can't rest on its laurels about,” he said.

“It's a message that many in government just don't appreciate.”

Short said research showed around half of Australia's mines could close within 7-18 years based on current reserves.

He said Australia's share of global exploration spending had also dropped significantly over the past few years.

Along with those problems Short said there were a number of stranded projects around Australia that needed further assistance.

“These are projects where resources have been discovered, exploration activity has been done but for one reason or another they just can't get it to the market,” he said.

“It’s to do with issues around infrastructure and third party access becomes an issue.”

Looking at possible solutions to the problems, Short said miners and explorers would have to tighten their belts further if they wanted to survive.

Lowering costs through improvements in productivity and efficiency was also highlighted as an important path forward, along with moves to organise further debt or raise funds from existing shareholders.

Short said AMEC was also lobbying to reduce costs through removal of the carbon and mining taxes and improvements to the diesel fuel rebate scheme.

He said improvements to the regulatory process, which had seen some companies tied up in native title negotiations, were also needed.

Despite the current concerns Short said activity in Australia's mining industry was still strong, and continued growth in China would help support developments.

“Obviously investment is coming off and we're moving from construction to production,” he said.

“But the investment is still significant, in the multi-billions. There's an awful lot of projects that are still coming on.

“Australia is still underexplored. There are a number of areas that have never been explored and we need to get on with it.”