MRANS and Minerals Play Fairway

Establishing MRANS is another example of how Minerals Play Fairway is modelled on the oil and gas Play Fairway Analysis. The oil and gas Play Fairway was government-funded but managed by the Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA). MRANS would play the equivalent role for the Minerals Play Fairway that OERA played for the oil and gas version.

MRANS would, for example, manage the funds granted by government, hire service providers to conduct the geophysical surveys and the processing of the data, ensure the results of the survey program are designed to maximize their potential to help attract investment from the global mining industry, assist in marketing the free data to the global industry and be accountable to the government for the results of the project.

There are several reasons why we believe it would be best for MRANS to manage Minerals Play Fairway rather than government managing it:

  • An industry-led, nimble organization like MRANS would be the most efficient and effective way of undertaking the project. MRANS could get the job done faster and get us to the investment attraction phase sooner. This was the province’s experience with the oil and gas Play Fairway Analysis and we believe the same would be true for Minerals Play Fairway.
  • It is generally-agreed that government procurement can be a complicated and slow process. MRANS could conduct requests for proposals and hire service providers to implement the geophysical survey program much quicker than government.
  • This Minerals Play Fairway report is an example of this. The Mining Association of Nova Scotia issued an RFP for geophysical consultants to conduct the needs assessment and was ready to hire consultants within a matter of weeks. This allowed us to hit the ground running on the needs assessment immediately after receiving funding from the Mineral Resources Development Fund.
  • A non-governmental organization is better-able to manage the multi-year survey program recommended in this needs assessment. If the funding for Minerals Play Fairway is provided up-front, as it was for the oil and gas Play Fairway Analysis, MRANS can manage the funds and implement the survey program over more than one fiscal year. This could be much more complicated in government where accounting rules require funds not spent at the end of the fiscal year to be spent on debt reduction and where activities can be delayed or simply cancelled through the annual budget process and changing priorities.

MRANS is ready and able to enter into a grant agreement with the Department of Energy and Mines to make Minerals Play Fairway happen. MRANS would accept and manage the funding and fulfill all necessary deliverables.