PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) is delivering tangible results.

Speaking at the Paydirt Nickel conference, in Perth, Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Marmion pointed out that a recent independent review had indicated that for every A$1-million spent by the government on the scheme, some A$10.3-million in exploration activity was undertaken by the private sector.

When exploration led to discoveries like the Nova-Bollinger mine, the multiplier effect increased, with the Minister saying that a A$1-million investment by government could result in a further A$13.4-million generated by the private sector.

“By the end of June 2017, we will have spent A$130-million since the scheme started in 2009 on encouraging a host of explorers, including Sirius Resources and fellow nickel explorers and miners,” Marmion noted.

Some A$50-million has been offered under the co-funded drilling programme component of the EIS, with 551 projects taking a share, with over 420 000 m of drilling resulting in at least 20 discoveries. Marmion said some A$21.6-million of the drilling programme has already been refunded to 273 projects.

Applications for the next round of the co-funded drilling programme, which would offer A$4.5-million to explorers, would close on October 16.

Marmion said the government’s investment in the exploration sector in Western Australia had had a hand in several of the nickel discoveries recorded in the state.

Some A$78.5-million was spent on nickel exploration in the last financial year, with the state having produced 183 083 t of nickel, valued at around A$32-billion.

Nickel was the fifth most important commodity for Western Australia, with the state hosting an estimated 38.8-million tonnes of contained metal, at an average grade of 0.7% nickel.