The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME) welcomes today’s announcement by Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt of a four-year extension of the Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive.
Mr Pitt announced the $100 million commitment ahead of next week’s Federal Budget.
CME Chief Executive Paul Everingham said the greenfield activities of junior explorers were in many ways an unseen lifeblood of the mining sector.
“The wider public is probably quite familiar with the WA’s big and established mining projects – and these deserve to be celebrated for the economic, employment and community benefits they deliver for the State and, indeed, the country,” Mr Everingham said.
“But people likely aren’t as aware of the vital and wide-ranging exploration activities around WA that help pave the way for many of these projects.
“The work of junior explorers is a major factor in ensuring we currently have and will continue to have a strong pipeline of future projects in WA.
“Gold is just one high-profile commodity that relies heavily on exploration groundwork. WA’s emerging battery materials sector also continues to benefit enormously from exploration undertaken to investigate and uncover new mineral deposits.”
More than half of the companies supported to date by the Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive are headquartered in WA.
Today’s announcement follows the recent awarding of $6.5 million in co-funded drilling grants as part of the WA Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme.
WA’s Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has estimated every dollar invested in the EIS returns $31 in value to the State.
