Administer mineral resources and perform scientific research relating to the earth sciences and mineral resources. Encourage mineral development. Create data bases and maps of mineral resources and geology. Assess groundwater resources and advise. When the integration of the management of mineral and water resources was abandoned Mines again became a Department in its own right on 18 February 1992. Almost a year later the Government decided to integrate all resource management and despite technical legal difficulties Mines became a division of the new Department of State Development and Resources on 3 February 1993.