STATE GOVT EXPANDS EXPLORATION INCENTIVES

21 May, 2009. In his address to the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies Conference held in Perth, WA Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore reiterated the importance of the resources to the WA economy, and the initiatives the State Government is implementing to build the platform for future growth.

In 2008 the sales value of mining and petroleum products from Western Australia increased 35% to $71.8 billion dollars. This accounted for 89% of merchandise exports from WA, and 41% of the total for Australia. The industry in WA provides direct employment for 75,000 people, and an estimated 3 times as many through indirect employment.

Building to capitalize on next up-tick in global demand for commodities, in April 2009 the government committed $80 million dollars to an Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS), to encourage exploration in Western Australia for the long-term sustainability of the State’s resources sector. Most of the activities in the EIS are focused in under-explored greenfield regions.

Also included in the EIS is funding for a new geological survey of Western Australia of the state’s assets, with geophysicial, magnetic, and radiometric mapping to provide data sets on the entire state.

The State Government is also working to overall approval processes for mining and exploration projects in the state. Starting with a restructuring of the responsible departments, it is working to remove bottlenecks in approvals process to provide more timely approvals and improve WA’s reputation as a place to do business.