622 MINING GEOLOGY/Exploration Figure Examining trays of drill core from the Eloise copper gold deposit in western Queensland, Australia Diamond drilling techniques are used, which allows deep holes to be drilled, and the core recovered allows detailed geological examination resources that small companies lack, and they are not so dependent on the day-to-day demands of the share market This means they can pursue longer term goals and are more likely to discover and develop long-life mines that contribute stability to the long-term supply of major mineral commodities Some junior companies are fast and economically efficient explorers and play an important role by supplying new exploration opportunities to larger companies and by bringing into production deposits that would be too small for major companies The Role of Governments in Exploration In most parts of the world, governments regulate exploration and mining Governments control the granting of titles, the conditions that are applied, and regulations governing safety and environmental protection Governments also determine the availability of regional data and the cost of accessing it, and they set the levels of taxation and other imposts and concessions that are applied to the industry Direct government involvement in exploration and mining is not regarded favourably these days, because having a government acting as both regulator and competitor involves them in a conflict of interest that may undermine trust in the regulatory process Although favourable geology is by far the most important determinant of how prospective a region is for exploration in a purely technical sense, the potential for commercial success from exploration is strongly influenced by the regulatory and financial environment in which it operates, as laid down by governments Countries with relatively poor geology may still be attractive for exploration if the legal, economic, and regulatory environment is attractive; conversely, even the best geology does not compensate for a bad environment, because confidence in the stability of an operating environment is very important for explorers and miners The Future of Exploration Mineral exploration is an essential part of the process of supplying the resource needs of societies: while that demand continues, so will mining and the exploration that is needed to sustain it But exploration faces many challenges, and is currently undergoing major changes With the rise in environmental awareness in the second half of the twentieth century, mining was widely criticized for its environmental impact Much of that criticism was justified, and there have been major changes, such that the modern mining industry can now operate with minimal environmental impact in the areas surrounding mines However, it is inescapable that any process that takes material from one place to another must have an environmental impact Mineral exploration has also come under attack by environmentalists, but most parts of the exploration process have very little to no environmental impact Most opposition to exploration is either misinformed about what is actually done, or more commonly is based on fear of what might happen in the unlikely event that a discovery is