The worst that could happen for Australia, is for the juniors to...

The worst that could happen for Australia, is for the juniors to stop kicking stones over and die a slow death. Consolidate and ensure knowledge transfer as you described is the only way through. Not sure if the big hitters will sit on the sidelines and pick up leases the small caps can't afford. If they do, they will only pick up the land and more often than not, will loose valuable insight from the small explorers geos etc. A time for lateral thinking on the part of mgt and dare i say it, govt.