In an address to the AMEC 2013 conference in Perth, Hartcher admitted that the state was facing “real issues” in terms of investment and exploration.

“The Australian Bureau of Statistics shows there’s been a 24% decline in exploration investment in NSW in the March quarter compared to the previous year and more significantly, Canada’s Fraser Institute ranks NSW as the lowest of all mainland states as an investment destination for mining.

“The market is tough because our principal product is thermal coal … and nobody wants to rush into that industry right now,” Hatcher said, adding that coal accounted for 35% of the state’s exports last year, generating about $14 billion.

Hartcher focused heavily on the changes in regulation that were being made on a state and federal level, encouraging investors to return their focus to exploration.

“There is huge potential out there, we have to explore it. We have to get a good understanding of what is there. Exploration is crucial so that we can actually progress.

“Who is afraid of knowledge? Who is afraid of knowing what’s beneath our feet?”

Commenting on the state’s recently lifted ban on uranium exploration, Hartcher compared modern Australian regulation to the time of Galileo.

“You don’t have to go back 400 years to Galileo banning whether you could look at if the earth moved around the sun. We had laws in Australia banning the same idea, banning actually knowledge.”

“But once that knowledge is gained and put into action through, say, the application for a mine development the problems don’t cease to exist. Hartcher acknowledged that investment has been discouraged by adverse legal decisions to approved mining projects, such as Rio Tinto’s Warkworth mine extension.”

Rio Tinto subsidiary Coal & Allied started its appeal last month against the NSW Land and Environment Court’s decision to overturn last year’s development consent for its Warkworth extension – warning 1300 jobs were at risk because of the delay.

Rio Tinto Energy chief executive Harry Kenyon-Slaney said even if a successful outcome could be delivered through the legal system, it would take months and come too late to avoid impacts on production and jobs at Mount Thorley Warkworth mine.

It is situations like this, Hartcher said, that discourage investment.

“If you’re an investor and you’re looking at those sorts of facts and figures, they are very challenging and we are very conscious of that challenge,” he said.