Exploration trends and developments 2019 The 2019 edition of ETD (Mineral Exploration Trends and Developments) tracks the recent developments in exploration technology around the world. ETD has been published since 1965, and in that time has been under the stewardship of only two editors; Dr Peter Hood and Dr Pat Killeen. Peter Hood started the ETD (initially just called Trends and Developments) and continued until 1992 when Pat Killeen took over. Until 2016 KEGS (the Canadian Exploration Geophysical Society) was the primary patron for ETD, but gradually more commercial support was found for the publication. Since 2016 DMEC (Decennial Minerals Exploration Conferences) has taken over as the major patron of the ETD and with it, the responsibility for raising the funds needed to cover the publication costs. The current supporters of ETD are now listed on a special page in the publication, and their support is gratefully acknowledged; this year there were 37 sponsors over three levels of support. Any group working in exploration technology can publish in the ETD; including, but not restricted to, survey companies, manufacturers of equipment and software, and consulting groups. Those interested in submitting material can contact Pat via email (contact is provided at end of this article). The 2019 edition of ETD can be found online at http://www.kegsonline. org/?dir=6&sub=23&typo=news and http://condorconsult.com/downloads/ index.html In summary, the business climate in 2018 (copy is acquired in the year prior to the publication) was seen as an improvement over 2017, but possibly Australia saw more of a rebound in minerals than North America. North American investors still appear to hold a“grudge” for perceived past profligate behaviour on the part of mining and exploration companies, but also have alternative investment opportunities with the widespread legalization of cannabis in both Canada and the USA. Also troubling is a recent peer-assessment of the performance of geophysical technologies (Schodde 2018); summarised in Figure 1. Schodde’s view is that geophysics is possibly not even“holding its own”since geophysics entered the scene in a major way in the early 1950s. Such trends are a concern as they can be interpreted by exploration managers as meaning geophysics has lost its“edge”. Quite arguably, however, the service industry and academia have continued to support exploration with continual improvements in equipment and data processing. What would appear to affecting the overall impact of geophysics is inappropriate survey choices, and the lack of proper assessment of the survey data. These aspects of the business are most typically end-user decisions. This means that the service industry must work even harder to communicate to our customers and clients that, if geophysics is to have the impact that we believe it can in exploration, success requires more than picking a contractor and then hoping it all turns out well. Killeen noted the following as his headliner for the 2019 report: “Airborne survey contractors reported conducting large surveys worldwide on numerous government projects. The UAV (drone) market seems to be taking off as the number of flight tests of new lighter, smaller versions of geophysical technology increased, including magnetic, radiometric, EM and even gravity. Airborne survey systems were updated to fully digital, and some new techniques and new versions of earlier AEM systems appeared. Several airborne survey contractors outfitted new aircraft, some with increased capabilities (e.g. twin-turbine engines), and several completely new Figure 1.  Outcomes of methods used at project-scale exploration; 1900–2018. Source Schodde (2018). News Industry 13 PREVIEW JUNE 2019