❓ Mr Blayney asks about WA government initiatives to encourage mining and petroleum exploration. Minister Marmion details the Exploration Incentive Scheme, co-funded drilling programs, and recent discoveries.
AnsweredQoN 125Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MINING AND PETROLEUM INDUSTRY — GOVERNMENT
EXPLORATION INITIATIVES
125. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the Minister for
Mines and Petroleum:
Firstly, may I acknowledge the year 6
student leaders from St Anthony's School from the member for Wanneroo's
electorate who are in the gallery today.
Can the minister please update the
house on the state government's initiatives to encourage exploration in
Western Australia?
EXPLORATION INITIATIVES
125. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the Minister for
Mines and Petroleum:
Firstly, may I acknowledge the year 6
student leaders from St Anthony's School from the member for Wanneroo's
electorate who are in the gallery today.
Can the minister please update the
house on the state government's initiatives to encourage exploration in
Western Australia?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Geraldton. He
is a strong supporter of the mining and petroleum industry in Western Australia,
and particularly in the midwest.
I am delighted to update the house
on what the Western Australian government has been doing to support exploration
in both those areas.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington, we are only on the first question. Put your
name down and ask the question.
Mr
W.R. MARMION : It could be a long answer, Mr Speaker.
I had the pleasure, two weeks ago,
to go to the open day of the Geological Survey of Western Australia. That open
day displays the latest innovations my department has been undertaking in terms
of geological research and analysis in Western Australia. A number of
innovations were on display, but when I was there I saw the results of the
latest round of the exploration incentive scheme. Under that scheme, which has
been going since 2009, we have been co-funding a lot of drilling programs—up
to about $5 million a year—and with the data we have been gathering, we
have been able to get more information about the geological nature of Western
Australia's crust. Although the Geological Survey of Western Australia
already has a very good surface analysis of Western Australia, the extra data
we have been able to obtain from our drilling program has been used to develop
a three-dimensional model of the geological structure of our crust. This
three-dimensional data is very useful for our mining and exploration companies
to de-risk their drilling programs. One of the benefits of our program has been
the de-risking of exploration.
At the open day I had great pleasure
to announce round 11 of our co-funded drilling program, which is one of the
most important parts of the exploration incentive scheme. That offers up to $5 million
for mining companies in Western Australia to co-fund their drilling program, at
a time when supporting the mining industry is very important. That round is
open now. It is the first round of funding from the consolidated revenue fund.
We have $30 million of CRF funding over the next three years. It will increase
the total funding that this government has provided to the mining industry for
exploration through the exploration incentive scheme. Exploration is a risky
area. It is very important to discover new resources. A total of $130 million
will have been provided by this government to help mining and exploration
companies from 2009 to 2017.
In the past 12 months there have
been some very good discoveries. There has been a new gold discovery at Alloy Resources'
Horse Well project. There is antimony mineralisation at Artemis Resources'
Eastern Hills project. Encounter Resources has had success with the discovery
of zinc at Millennium. Very importantly, Panoramic Resources has made a nickel
discovery at Savannah North. One of the well-known successes from the EIS has
been Sirius Resources' Nova discovery, which will go into production
early next year. That shows one of the real successes of this program. The
present net value will show that it is well above 10 when we analyse it next
year.
Some minor projects were also on
display at the Geological Survey of Western Australia open day. There were new systems to show its
award-winning application —
The
SPEAKER : Wind it up, minister.
Mr
W.R. MARMION : — about the latest geoscience resources. I will
close. There is an app for those
geologists who —
Mr W.J. Johnston interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Cannington!
Mr W.R. MARMION : I
know that the member for Cannington's daughter is a geologist, so he
should be paying attention.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Members! Member for Cannington! Will you table that phone, minister?
Mr W.R. MARMION :
This phone is just a visual aid,
Mr Speaker.
One of the most important applications at the open day was
the new app linked to the geological structure of the earth. If we plug in this
app, it will tell us exactly what the geology is under our feet. It is fantastic. I encourage all members to download that.
is a strong supporter of the mining and petroleum industry in Western Australia,
and particularly in the midwest.
I am delighted to update the house
on what the Western Australian government has been doing to support exploration
in both those areas.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington, we are only on the first question. Put your
name down and ask the question.
Mr
W.R. MARMION : It could be a long answer, Mr Speaker.
I had the pleasure, two weeks ago,
to go to the open day of the Geological Survey of Western Australia. That open
day displays the latest innovations my department has been undertaking in terms
of geological research and analysis in Western Australia. A number of
innovations were on display, but when I was there I saw the results of the
latest round of the exploration incentive scheme. Under that scheme, which has
been going since 2009, we have been co-funding a lot of drilling programs—up
to about $5 million a year—and with the data we have been gathering, we
have been able to get more information about the geological nature of Western
Australia's crust. Although the Geological Survey of Western Australia
already has a very good surface analysis of Western Australia, the extra data
we have been able to obtain from our drilling program has been used to develop
a three-dimensional model of the geological structure of our crust. This
three-dimensional data is very useful for our mining and exploration companies
to de-risk their drilling programs. One of the benefits of our program has been
the de-risking of exploration.
At the open day I had great pleasure
to announce round 11 of our co-funded drilling program, which is one of the
most important parts of the exploration incentive scheme. That offers up to $5 million
for mining companies in Western Australia to co-fund their drilling program, at
a time when supporting the mining industry is very important. That round is
open now. It is the first round of funding from the consolidated revenue fund.
We have $30 million of CRF funding over the next three years. It will increase
the total funding that this government has provided to the mining industry for
exploration through the exploration incentive scheme. Exploration is a risky
area. It is very important to discover new resources. A total of $130 million
will have been provided by this government to help mining and exploration
companies from 2009 to 2017.
In the past 12 months there have
been some very good discoveries. There has been a new gold discovery at Alloy Resources'
Horse Well project. There is antimony mineralisation at Artemis Resources'
Eastern Hills project. Encounter Resources has had success with the discovery
of zinc at Millennium. Very importantly, Panoramic Resources has made a nickel
discovery at Savannah North. One of the well-known successes from the EIS has
been Sirius Resources' Nova discovery, which will go into production
early next year. That shows one of the real successes of this program. The
present net value will show that it is well above 10 when we analyse it next
year.
Some minor projects were also on
display at the Geological Survey of Western Australia open day. There were new systems to show its
award-winning application —
The
SPEAKER : Wind it up, minister.
Mr
W.R. MARMION : — about the latest geoscience resources. I will
close. There is an app for those
geologists who —
Mr W.J. Johnston interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Cannington!
Mr W.R. MARMION : I
know that the member for Cannington's daughter is a geologist, so he
should be paying attention.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Members! Member for Cannington! Will you table that phone, minister?
Mr W.R. MARMION :
This phone is just a visual aid,
Mr Speaker.
One of the most important applications at the open day was
the new app linked to the geological structure of the earth. If we plug in this
app, it will tell us exactly what the geology is under our feet. It is fantastic. I encourage all members to download that.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.