New Zealand's databases of prospective gold, oil and gas deposits have received separate funding boosts, with GNS Science receiving a total of $6 million in the latest round of government science funding.
GNS, a Crown Research Institute, is one of 13 research organisations to benefit from $139 million of science investment funding announced by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment this week.
It will have some spin-off benefits for the University of Otago; which separately got $10 million for six projects.
GNS will get $4 million over four years to target prospective gold deposits, which will be in collaboration with the universities of Otago, Waikato and Auckland, and also a further, separate, $2 million over four years to target prospective offshore, oil and gas deposits within the exclusive economic zone.
During the past two terms of the National-led Government, oil and gas, and to a lesser degree the minerals sector, have benefited from increased data collation by government agencies.
The data, held by permitting agency New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals (NZPM), is then scrutinised, free of charge, by exploration companies.
National believes minerals exploration can be the cornerstone for economic recovery.
GNS gold project leader Tony Christie said the project would study the geology of known gold deposits so geologists could identify other prospective areas.
''This information will encourage new exploration, increase the chances of discovering new gold deposits and also reduce the financial risks for the industry.''
New Zealand exported about 10 tonnes of gold bullion each year, earning about $670 million, the majority from East Otago-based Oceana Gold and Newmont's Waihi operation in the North Island.
Dr Christie said a new world-class gold deposit ''could be worth about $250 million a year for the life of the mine, or about $8 billion over a typical mine lifespan of about 30 years.''
He estimated a benefit-cost ratio of up to $2500 to each $1 spent over 30 years if the initiative led to the discovery of a world-class gold deposit.
''New Zealand's mineral potential is significantly higher than current production would indicate.
"The Government has recognised that there is an opportunity for the industry to make a bigger contribution to the economy,'' Dr Christie said.
He said the initiative would be supported by mining companies' supplying some of their exploration data at no cost, and helping find new prospects - the project could extend the life of existing mines by identifying fresh target areas, Dr Christie said.
Some gold deposits also contain significant quantities of silver, and the research could also highlight potential for other metals such as tungsten, copper, lead and zinc, Dr Christie said.
For oil and gas exploration, GNS project leader and petroleum geologist Kyle Bland anticipated that from the new data, New Zealand's exploration activity would increase and the chances of a major discovery would increase.
''The result will be an extensive body of information showing the current geological understanding of New Zealand's 18 mostly offshore petroleum basins.
"It will be the first time such a wealth of knowledge has been available in a standardised format in one place,'' Dr Bland said.
The oil and gas initiative would bring together about six decades of existing information, augmented by new data, on potential subsurface habitats where petroleum was likely to have accumulated, he said.
''Most of New Zealand's sedimentary basins were largely unexplored for petroleum and a large discovery anywhere would dramatically improve New Zealand's economic fortunes,'' he said.
The project's main output would be a workstation-ready ''digital atlas'' showing the multiple layers of information, including sediment thickness, reservoir architecture and source rock distribution.
''The data will help greatly in evaluating petroleum prospectivity within and between basins right across New Zealand's offshore territory,'' Dr Bland said.
The main users would be companies which were evaluating petroleum prospects globally, companies new to New Zealand and existing companies looking for new opportunities; and permit agency NZPM, which also promotes the data overseas.
