Unearthing Potential: Trillions in resources opportunity points to bright future for Western Australia
Western Australia is sitting on more than $8 trillion in known mineral and energy resources with the potential to generate more than a trillion in royalties and taxes, support hundreds of thousands of jobs and position the State as an indispensable link in global supply chains for decades to come.
Unearthing Potential, a new report commissioned by the Chamber of Mineral and Energy WA (CME), quantifies the immense breadth and scale of the opportunity that remains ahead of our world-leading resources sector.
The analysis of 27 individual commodities by EY-Parthenon found developing just 80 per cent of WA’s currently identified resources base could support:
- $8.1 trillion in saleable product value
- $476 billion in royalty revenue for Western Australia
- $855 billion in Commonwealth company tax revenue
- 864,000 construction jobs during project development
- Up to 158,000 onsite operational jobs per year
- $1.1 trillion in total wages associated with both construction and operations
Released as CME marks its 125th anniversary, Chief Executive Officer Aaron Morey said the report underscored the sector that has long powered Australian prosperity had generations of life ahead of it.
“The Western Australian story is inseparable from its mining story – and we remain closer to the first chapter of that story than the last,” Mr Morey said.
“That is exciting for every Australian. With the right policy settings, we can unlock decades of jobs, decades of royalties, decades of taxes and decades of the world knocking on Western Australia’s door for the minerals and energy every modern economy needs.
“The potential benefits are immense. For example, $476 billion in royalty payments is enough to fund Westport, pay off WA’s entire debt, build 20 new hospitals and 200 new schools – and still leave more than $380 billion in the bank.
“$855 billion in company tax could fund the AUKUS submarine program outright and then pay down half of the national debt bill.
“And the huge scale of work required to bring these resources to market means generations of West Australians will have access to rewarding careers in mining and energy.
“What makes these figures even more remarkable is that they only encompass a portion of the mineral and energy reserves we already know about.
As exploration uncovers new deposits, our understanding of existing discoveries improves and extraction technologies become more efficient, the economic potential of our resources base is likely to grow even bigger over time.”
The report also quantifies some of the potential uses for the diverse range of commodities available to the State.
Examples include Western Australia possessing enough iron ore to construct 184 billion kilometres of high-voltage transmission lines, enough lithium to manufacture 1.4 billion electric vehicle batteries, enough rare earths to build 52.4 billion semi-conductors and enough natural gas to manufacture 14.2 billion tonnes of fertiliser.
Mr Morey said WA’s diverse portfolio of high-quality resources insulated the State from individual commodity cycles while providing exposure to a wide range of industries, markets and emerging technologies.
“From electrification and decarbonisation to artificial intelligence and rapid advancements in defence technology, every major trend in the global economy leads directly to Western Australia and the minerals and energy we produce,” Mr Morey said.
“Capitalising on that opportunity isn’t just an economic imperative. The deeper WA embeds itself in global supply chains, the more indispensable Australia becomes to the world.
“CME has spent 125 years backing this industry. Unearthing Potential shows why the next 125 will be even bigger.”
Read the full report here.
Media contacts:
Josh Zimmerman j.zimmerman@cmewa.com / 0404 947 719
Natasha Mutch n.mutch@cmewa.com / 0435 383 382