Plimer delivered the final address at the Resources & Energy Investment Symposium yesterday in Broken Hill, New South Wales, stoking some of the event’s recurring themes with his flare for the ominous.

“We are living in dangerous times when Australia’s greatest industry could be wiped out in a couple of generations’ time,” Plimer said.

“Iron ore and coking coal have had a good run lately, but try something like zinc, try something like copper, terribly difficult in today’s market,” he said.

“And that has led to a focus on brownfields.

“Greenfields exploration virtually doesn’t exist at present. It’s brownfields that are profitable in the short term.

“We’ve gone in 10 years from having 21% of the word’s exploration funds going to Australia to 12%. And that money has gone to other provinces, incredibly stable places like West Africa and Ethiopia.

“The money’s not being spent here and this is an absolute travesty. We’ve had companies list on the ASX and raise money for projects and spend this money outside Australia.”

Plimer emphasised the need for increased public education on the role of mining in society and a redoubling of training options for industry professionals.

“In this country there are four universities that produce about 120 mining engineers a year, but there is not one university that has a department of minerals processing,” he said.

“We have only two geology departments in this country, Tasmania and Melbourne.

“In Melbourne it’s earth sciences, where it’s amalgamated with global warmers. The other groups of geologists in universities in this country are in with ants and lyre birds and biological people.

“We really have a block there of providing skilled personnel to find the next ore deposits.”

Plimer also issued a challenge to streamline the resources process “from concept to concentrate” and decrease the bureaucratic inhibitors in establishing a fully operational and permitted mine.

Outlining two years for title procurement, six years for exploration and infill drilling, five years for data collection and feasibility study and seven years for fund raising and permitting, the professor did the maths.

“That’s 20 years from concept to actually having the mine,” he said.

“Much of that is due to the red tape and the green tape.

“There is only one environment, so why the hell do you have to get environmental approval from half a dozen state government departments and half a dozen federal government departments.

“The environment doesn’t care, there’s only one environment.”

Plimer’s solution included a decentralisation of the government to raise awareness among public officials about the realities of mining, logistics and doing business in regional Australia.

“We should look at federal government departments,” he said.

“We would move, say, the Department of Infrastructure to Rabbit Flat in the Northern Territory.

“In Rabbit Flat there’s no mobile phone, there’s no communications and the Department of Infrastructure would then understand that most of rural and regional Australia is under-serviced with infrastructure.

“You’d put the Department of Aboriginal Affairs at Halls Creek [Western Australia], working two shifts a day so those coming home at the end of the night shift would be wondering whether they’re going to get home that night or not.

“Put them right where the action is.”