AusGeo News  June 2008  Issue No. 90

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Sharing the geology of Australia and the region with the world

President of the Australian Geoscience Council, Dr Trevor Powell, and Chief Executive of Queensland Events Corporation, Mr Michael Denton, shake hands after signing the contract in Brisbane on Thursday 3 April 2008.

The International Geological Congress (IGC) - the pre-eminent international meeting for geoscientists - is held every four years. There is robust competition from countries and cities hoping to stage an IGC. At the 2004 IGC in Florence, Italy, Australia and the Oceania region mounted the winning bid to stage the 2012 IGC in Brisbane.

The IGC covers all aspects of geoscience, from the deep interior of the Earth to planetary geoscience, and from mineral and energy resources to climate change and geo-medicine. This will be only the second time in the IGC's 130 year history that the IGC has been held in the Oceania region, with Sydney being the venue for the 1976 Congress.

AUSTRALIA 2012, as the Congress will be known, will be a major event for both Brisbane and the state of Queensland. The Congress is expected to attract at least 5000 delegates from about 100 countries.

The Australian Geoscience Council will be the body responsible for organising the Congress. The AGC is the peak council representing nine major geoscience organisations in Australia with a total of more than 7000 professional members.

Queensland Events Corporation, an agency of the Queensland Government, broadened its traditional brief in order to provide support for the Congress. A contract detailing the terms of this support was recently signed by representatives of the AGC and Events Queensland at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, the venue for AUSTRALIA 2012.

A strong and experienced International Geological Congress Organising Committee has already been established. The President and Secretary General are Dr Neil Williams and Dr Ian Lambert of Geoscience Australia, reflecting the agency's strong commitment to the Congress. The Organising Committee are planning to use the 2008 IGC in Oslo, Norway as a major promotional springboard for AUSTRALIA 2012.

For more information phone Ian Lambert on +61 2 6249 9556 (email ian.lambert@ga.gov.au)

Related websites

Australia 2012: 34th International Geological Congress

Another record breaking PDAC

The 76th Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada's (PDAC) International Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange eclipsed the record attendance at last year's Convention with more than 20 000 attendees from over 100 countries. The event was held in Toronto, Canada, between 2 and 5 March this year. The Trade Show featured more than 360 exhibitors, including government agencies from 36 countries, promoting technology, products, services and mining jurisdictions.

Australian exhibitors at the Australian Pavilion during the trade show.

As in 2007, the mood of this year’s Convention reflected the strong state of the industry as explorers and miners continue to enjoy historically high commodity prices. Australia’s promotion was boosted by the support of Australia’s High Commissioner to Canada, HE Mr Bill Fisher. The Australian exhibitors received valuable support from the Toronto office of Austrade, an Australian Government agency which assists Australian businesses in matters of international trade.

Australia’s high-profile promotion at the Trade Show combined industry and government exhibitors. Geoscience Australia coordinated the government promotion which involved all states and the Northern Territory under the ‘Team Australia’ banner. The exhibition, in the Australian Pavilion, attracted over 300 significant visitors from 29 countries representing mining and exploration companies as well as financial and academic institutions. There was strong interest in all commodities. In addition to the government exhibitors, the Australian Pavilion included Encom Technology Pty Ltd, Intrepid Geophysics, Predictive Mineral Discovery Cooperative Research Centre (pmd*CRC), Gekko Systems Pty Ltd and AME Mineral Economics. Their participation was again coordinated by GeoJAG Australia.

Geoscience Australia scientists delivered two jointly authored presentations at a special symposium within the PDAC program entitled Proterozoic Continental Movement and Metallogeny which aimed to highlight new developments in understanding the geology and metallogenesis of the Proterozoic around the world. The presentations were ‘New insights into the geodynamic and metallogenic evolution of the Mt. Isa region’ by George Gibson and Laurie Hutton (Geological Survey of Queensland), and ‘The geodynamics and metallogeny of the Australian Proterozoic’ by David Huston and state and Northern Territory colleagues.

For more information phone Mike Huleatt on +61 2 6249 9087 (email mike.huleatt@ga.gov.au)

Unless otherwise noted, all Geoscience Australia material on this website is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence.