DM history. DM and especially its core component, LITHOTHEQUE, were conceived and started by Peter Laznicka in 1970, as a portable means of recording geological facts and conveying information unbiased by temporary models and subjective interpretation. 35 years later, this premise holds. With support of my geo-wife Sarka we continued to build DM, in my spare time and within the meager family budget, until mid-1999 when the physical collection approached 2400 Lithotheque plates (~under 50,000 samples) with an estimated replacement value of USD 2 million. With mineral exploration and spinoff activities like education devastated by the late 1990s downturn, I have accepted AMIRA's plan to relocate DM to Australia and to develop it for international web-based delivery as well as a research/study resource accessible on premises. Despite the most difficult times for the resources community, AMIRA's Alan Goode performed a miracle in raising enough funds to go ahead, mostly from Australian industrial and institutional sponsors and with major assistance from PIRSA of South Australia. DM in Australia started in mid-1999 as a joint project of AMIRA and Australian Mineral Foundation (AMF) under a remarkably balanced business plan. It experienced 2.5 happy years of rapid growth and conversion from a private collection to an internationally accessible specialized resource, with a unique approach where electronic images are based on concrete, tangible geological material the public can examine in original and nondestructively test. Kerry O'Sullivan deserves credit for managing the imaging and "webbing" of DM so that on-line delivery became reality in early 2003. Subsequent DM progress has been seriously hampered by AMF demise in 2001 and underfunding exacerbated by AMIRA's new budget for the 2 year follow-up project. This budget generously rewarded the management but eventually brought the growth of physical collection and conversion of related documentation close to a standstill. In late 2004, after 33 years of uninterrupted growth of DM collection at a rate of some 100 new sample sets per year, no new sampling has been funded by Amira since September 2003. Without live and vigorous physical collection the DM information technology component would be irrelevant and unless there is a change DM will be pressed hard to survive competition from the better funded and better placed operators marketing, Google-style, images gathered from the web with little original input. The P554A project terminated in November 2004. Since that time the project has been staffed by management only; the collection is in doldrums. As a final disgrace, the collection has been evicted by Maptek Ltd. from its premises and it languishes in three shipping containers in Adelaide, waiting for relocation. Future home unknown, access denied.

DataMet 2