Territory Hirex provides product and service, mainly to exploration companies, but also to mine operators and commercial cleaners.

“We’ve built up a good reputation,” says Tony Pickett, who owns the company with his wife Jenny.

“Customers like the unique service that we provide – we believe we’re the only business in Alice Springs offering this kind of service.”

He is optimistic about the future of the Territory’s mining industry.

“The future is positive. Mining goes up and down – we’ve ridden out storms in the past.”

The Territory has eight operational mines, including Newmont’s Callie gold mine; South32’s GEMCO mine, which is the world’s largest manganese mine; and Glencore’s world-class zinc and lead mine at McArthur River Mine (MRM).

There are 20 potential mining projects in the approvals or financing process. Several of them, including Core Lithium’s Finniss project and Arafura’s Nolans rare earths project, are close to making a final investment decision.

Mining provides great economic opportunities for suppliers; for instance, MRM spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year with Territory companies to operate the McArthur River Mine.

Territory Hirex, which was founded in the 1980s, provides the mining exploration industry with a range of consumables, such as calico and plastic sample bags, core trays, chip trays, buckets, pickets and pegs, survey equipment, safety gear, flagging tape, sieves and other mining tools for the professional or weekend fossicker.

The company is a strong supporter of the Territory Government’s Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar, with its adjoining Mining Services Expo, which is always held in Alice Springs.

Mr Pickett says Territory Hirex provided a stall at the Expo for the past 14 years. “You have to be there,” he says. “It’s good for catching up with existing customers and meeting potential future customers.”