Mining giant Rio Tinto is eager to work with junior exploration companies to develop the next high quality mine.
Capital markets had almost dried up for smaller explorers, Rio Tinto exploration director of Australasia Ian Ledlie said.
"As an industry, country and company we need new, high quality discoveries, greenfields and brownfields," Mr Ledlie told the Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie on Monday.
The company is working with government and academia and is eager to work with exploration companies, he said.
"Our commitment to uncover, by representation on the executive and geoscience committees and volunteering our data from our legacy sets is one indication of our support in this area," he said.
The challenge is bigger than any single initiative, group, company or department, he said, but added Rio would only commit capital to the best greenfields exploration project.
"I would like to see much more Australian exploration funding and more project support which is one of the reasons for being here today," Mr Ledlie said.
However, Sirius Resources managing director Mark Bennett said he was unsure whether Rio's initiative would be a great help to junior explorers.
"Unless they've got technology that's so super dooper that you can't access it, otherwise I'm not sure that it's the magic bullet," Mr Bennett told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.
He said sustaining ventures between majors and junior explorers was not always easy.
"Often the objectives are so different that there ends up being a stalemate sooner or later or it ends up in a takeover," Mr Bennett said.
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