Resources Sector Heatmap & Infrastructure Corridors​

SACOME calls for the completion and implementation of the South Australian Resources Sector Economic Heatmap and Resources Infrastructure Corridors initiatives.
SACOME continues to call for the development of a Resources Sector Economic Heatmap to provide government, industry and investors with a consolidated understanding of the value of South Australia’s resources provinces and facilitate greater project investment across the State.

SACOME promotes the Heatmap as a tool for informed decision making by government and industry through the consolidation of requisite knowledge, including:
  •  The potential economic value of a province to the State;
  •  The investment required to build a path to market for identified provinces;
  •  What actions the State could take to resolve infrastructure-related barriers to investment;
  •  Opportunities to leverage Commonwealth funding and prioritisation;
  •  The timeframes necessary for implementing a solution; and
  •  The opportunity cost of doing nothing.

The Resources Sector Heatmap initiative is itself informed by the South Australian Government’s 2014 Regional Mining Infrastructure Plan (RMIP) and, like the RMIP, aims to consolidate the understanding of project opportunities and requirements across South Australia’s resources provinces to catalyse investment and overcome barriers to project development.

SACOME notes that the Department for Infrastructure & Transport (DIT) commenced work on a ‘Resources Sector Heatmap’ which was expected to be completed in 2023 but which now has stalled.

SACOME has been advised by the South Australian Government that the Heatmap is considered to be of limited utility as it only considers the presentday value of provinces and has been mapped at a ‘Statistical Area-2’ or community level rather than a provinces level, thus limiting its utility for strategic ‘province level’ planning.

SACOME submits that the Heatmap should be finalised in line with its original intent for use as a vehicle to inform strategic decision-making at a province level and as an investment attraction tool for the State.

Dovetailing with the Resources Sector Economic Heatmap, SACOME also calls on the State Government to finalise development of the ‘Resources Infrastructure Corridors’ initiative.

SACOME continues to advocate for implementation of the Infrastructure Corridors initiative as an infrastructure investment attraction tool by identifying and establishing infrastructure project pathways to major South Australian resources provinces.

This includes holistically resolving land access, approvals and logistics issues and operating as a jurisdictional advantage by providing operators with a de-risked and expedited path to project development.

Once implemented, it will provide the State with a competitive advantage by reducing the time and cost associated with developing resources projects in South Australia.