❓ The Minister for Mines and Petroleum outlines key achievements in 2014 related to improving Western Australia's attractiveness for resources investment, including regulatory improvements, the mining rehabilitation fund, community engagement, exploration incentive schemes, and geological surveys. WA was ranked top mining jurisdiction by the Fraser Institute.
AnsweredQoN 1014Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
RESOURCES
INVESTMENT
1014. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the
Minister for Mines and Petroleum:
Since 2008, the Liberal–National government has made
Western Australia a much more attractive place for investment in resources. Can
the minister please advise the house how this work has continued in 2014?
INVESTMENT
1014. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the
Minister for Mines and Petroleum:
Since 2008, the Liberal–National government has made
Western Australia a much more attractive place for investment in resources. Can
the minister please advise the house how this work has continued in 2014?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Geraldton for another good question.
The member for Geraldton has a very good understanding of the importance of
mining and petroleum to the economy of Western Australia, particularly for
Geraldton.
I am very pleased to outline a snapshot of some of the key
achievements of my department, the Department of Mines and Petroleum, for 2014.
We have made considerable progress in implementing a more consistent,
transparent and risk-based regulatory framework across the industry, with a
particular focus on safety and environmental regulations, and in making Western
Australia a better place in which to invest capital in the mining industry. A
key achievement is the mining rehabilitation fund, which is a world-first,
innovative approach to addressing environmental issues. I will not go through
that today, but one aspect of the mining rehabilitation fund that I have not
highlighted much is the rehabilitation of legacy mine sites. Interest on the
fund will be directed towards rehabilitating legacy mine sites throughout
Western Australia, and we are already developing a list of key priority mine
sites for rehabilitation.
I am also very pleased to report that the Auditor General
this year gave the department a good tick on improvements to its assessment,
inspection and reporting processes. We also got another tick from the
Productivity Commission, which complimented the Department of Mines and
Petroleum's public reporting of compliance with approval performance
targets as leading practice throughout Australia.
One of the department's most important focuses this
year has been on community engagement in respect of making sure that the public
is aware of shale and tight gas exploration, and carbon capture and storage,
and the impacts that they might have on local communities. The department and
the industry have been focusing on that.
There have been two further rounds of the exploration
incentive scheme, and 90 successful applicants have been offered co-funded
drilling programs, which is great for supporting the industry and, indeed, the
industry thinks it is a great program. One of the good outcomes of the EIS
program is the Nova nickel discovery in Fraser Range, and, indeed, the mining
lease was approved this year and production should commence next year.
I will conclude by talking about the work we have done in
Geological Survey. We have completed analysis of the airborne gravity data
collected through the EIS program and interpreted a lot of the geophysical and
geochemical data. The department has released 1:500 000 interpretive bedrock
geological maps, and they are now available to mining companies so that they
can pinpoint where they might get the best value out of their drilling
operations.
Finally, the ''Fraser
Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2013'' was released in 2014
and ranked Western Australia as the top mining jurisdiction for investment
attractiveness, mineral potential and regulatory certainty. That is a great
outcome for Western Australian mining.
The member for Geraldton has a very good understanding of the importance of
mining and petroleum to the economy of Western Australia, particularly for
Geraldton.
I am very pleased to outline a snapshot of some of the key
achievements of my department, the Department of Mines and Petroleum, for 2014.
We have made considerable progress in implementing a more consistent,
transparent and risk-based regulatory framework across the industry, with a
particular focus on safety and environmental regulations, and in making Western
Australia a better place in which to invest capital in the mining industry. A
key achievement is the mining rehabilitation fund, which is a world-first,
innovative approach to addressing environmental issues. I will not go through
that today, but one aspect of the mining rehabilitation fund that I have not
highlighted much is the rehabilitation of legacy mine sites. Interest on the
fund will be directed towards rehabilitating legacy mine sites throughout
Western Australia, and we are already developing a list of key priority mine
sites for rehabilitation.
I am also very pleased to report that the Auditor General
this year gave the department a good tick on improvements to its assessment,
inspection and reporting processes. We also got another tick from the
Productivity Commission, which complimented the Department of Mines and
Petroleum's public reporting of compliance with approval performance
targets as leading practice throughout Australia.
One of the department's most important focuses this
year has been on community engagement in respect of making sure that the public
is aware of shale and tight gas exploration, and carbon capture and storage,
and the impacts that they might have on local communities. The department and
the industry have been focusing on that.
There have been two further rounds of the exploration
incentive scheme, and 90 successful applicants have been offered co-funded
drilling programs, which is great for supporting the industry and, indeed, the
industry thinks it is a great program. One of the good outcomes of the EIS
program is the Nova nickel discovery in Fraser Range, and, indeed, the mining
lease was approved this year and production should commence next year.
I will conclude by talking about the work we have done in
Geological Survey. We have completed analysis of the airborne gravity data
collected through the EIS program and interpreted a lot of the geophysical and
geochemical data. The department has released 1:500 000 interpretive bedrock
geological maps, and they are now available to mining companies so that they
can pinpoint where they might get the best value out of their drilling
operations.
Finally, the ''Fraser
Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2013'' was released in 2014
and ranked Western Australia as the top mining jurisdiction for investment
attractiveness, mineral potential and regulatory certainty. That is a great
outcome for Western Australian mining.
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