UNew Wine In New Skins": Exploration Incentives In Canada's Frontier Areas
Authors: Kerr S. Aubrey 
Published: March 2010

Innovative geological thinking is essential to the successful exploration of the new frontier areas.

Incentives can only be maintained by a degree of success, therefore only industry itself can generate true incentive. Industry success is also essential to gain and maintain the confidence of the financial community. The explorationist must adapt himself to the frontier challenges created by complex geology and realize that innovation, incentives, funding and expertise must interact effectively to discover significant reserves.

THE TITLE OF THIS PAPER stems from the passage from the Bible:

"No one pours fresh wine into old wineskins; otherwise the fresh wine will burst the wineskins, the wine will be spilt and the wineskins ruined. No, fresh wine must be poured into new wineskins." - (Luke 5; 37–38)

To paraphrase this passage: much of the new money, that is ("new wine"), dedicated to the frontier areas must be melded with new ideas, that is ("new skins"), so that the true over-all success for these sectors may be realized. Putting it another way as an explorationist, innovative geological thinking is essential to the successful exploration of these new frontier areas. Management is urged to take cognizance of this point.

Each of the frontier areas has its own special problems, but unique opportunities are available to overcome them. The explorationist must continually adapt himself to the inherent logistical facts of life along with the drilling contractor, the engineer and the pipeliner.

The other word in the title, incentives) is one of the most overworked words in the present-day vocabulary. Despite what people may have been led to think, incentives must be generated within industry. Industry, in turn, must have success in order to gain and maintain the confidence of the financial community, and success can only be optimized by innovative geological concepts.

A direct quotation from the Alberta Board's 1964–10 Report emphasizes this point: "The real incentive for exploration is the expectation of making a discovery." This is the driving force which involves all sectors of industry. Innovation, incentives, funding and geological expertise are the four main factors which must interact effectively and intelligently to realize industry's sale objective: discovery of significant reserves in these frontier areas.

In order to gain a better understanding of the problems facing the explorationist, it is necessary to compare the frontier areas with Canada's traditional hunting grounds.

First of all there is a severe limitation as to the number of tests or, translated into dollars, the amount of funds that can be spent on anyone play. Some of these structures or anomalies may only warrant one hole and another chance may not present itself.

Secondly, these frontier areas haven't been, nor with they be, able to generate their own cash flow for some years to come. Therefore, there is a need for continuing injections of funds for geophysical work and new-play wildcats and these funds be spent in an intelligent, logical fashion.

Thirdly, but not readily apparent in the present state of euphoria and accelerated exploration is the element of time.