Australia has “lost the plot” in its backing for greenfields minerals exploration and is continuing to slip in world rankings on support for discovering new mineable deposits. At risk the sector has been warned, is the survival of at least 25% of Australia’s junior explorers. Addressing the second day in Perth today of the Paydirt 2010 Australian Gold Conference, Integra Mining’s Managing Director, Chris Cairns, in a general commentary on the gold industry, said Australia had slipped from being a world leader in share of world exploration spend in 1993, losing its crown to Canada in 2002. (more…)