PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian government has awarded A$4.93-million to 41 projects in Round 20 of its exploration incentive scheme (EIS) co-funded drilling programme.
Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston on Tuesday said that the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and safety had reviewed 64 applications for the latest round of the EIS.
"Collectively the 64 applicants requested nearly A$8-million dollars for co-funded drilling reflecting positive activity in resource exploration, a great sign for Western Australia.
"It's great to see such a diverse range of battery and traditional minerals, such as base metals and gold, with gold experiencing a strong market value this past financial year,” said Johnston.
"The McGowan government is supporting Western Australia's mining sector, which is helping increase employment figures and the number of mining tenements and exploration licences."
Of the 41 projects awarded funding, a third are searching for battery commodities and this is dominated by nickel, or nickel/cobalt exploration. Other commodities include vanadium and lithium.
Applications listing potash as the exploration target are now a regular occurrence for co-funding, the Minister said, noting that the applications reflected an emerging industry sector, which is being supported by the government with the introduction of new lower tenure rental rates for mining leases.
The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (Amec) has welcomed the latest round of the EIS.
“The co-funded drilling programme helps exploration companies leverage matching private funding to undertake greenfield drilling, helping to bring additional investment into Western Australia,” said Amec CEO Warren Pearce.
“Following record lows, the industry is showing positive signs of economic recovery and growth; however, there are significant hurdles that companies experience in raising capital for greenfield exploration.”
Since it commenced in 2009, the EIS drilling programme has offered funding to more than 940 projects resulting in more than 800 000 m of drilling across the state.
The next round of the programme opens in February 2020.