I rise today, during National Mining Week, to provide a breakdown of the improvements this government is making to the province�s Mineral Incentive Program with the nearly $1 million increase in funding announced in the provincial budget. At $2.5 million this year, this is the largest budget in the program�s history.

As a result of the increased funding commitment, I am announcing today the addition of a new initiative to encourage more prospecting and development of dimension stone, building stone and industrial minerals.

We are spending $250,000 toward providing non-repayable grants to cover 75 per cent of the cost of exploration and resource assessment on new or undeveloped natural stone prospects, up to a maximum of $50,000 per project. This initiative is designed to encourage companies or individuals to take new or inadequately assessed prospects to a more advanced stage.

The funding will allow for identification of alternate uses for existing or inactive stone quarries, and increase the known reserves of natural stone in the province. It could, for example, result in identifying the potential to develop countertop stone from quarries originally used for monument stone or vice versa.

We are also making improvements related to junior exploration and prospecting. We are modifying the $1.9-million junior exploration assistance component to include, for the first time, a $500,000 allocation specifically for grassroots exploration. This is a critical part of the exploration cycle and will include geophysical surveys conducted on the ground or from the air.

We are enhancing assistance for prospectors by offering an extra $2,000 in funding for helicopter or float plane support to explore remote properties not accessible by any other means. We are able to do this as a result of increasing the prospectors� assistance budget from $250,000 to $300,000.

Finally, the department is expanding the two-week Prospectors Training Course into Labrador. It is currently offered in Stephenville and is open to all residents of the province. The course will be offered in Happy Valley-Goose Bay this summer. We also have preliminary plans to offer the course in other parts of Labrador in the future.

By delivering a prospectors training course at different locations in Labrador we hope to provide the maximum benefit and opportunity to all interested people in Labrador, which can only lead to a much higher potential for new mineral discoveries.

These initiatives represent a significant commitment by this government to promoting and encouraging mineral exploration in the province.

2006 05 10                                          1:50 p.m.