The Western Australian Government is supporting the state’s mining sector by accelerating approvals, streamlining processes and providing incentives to explorers.
The Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS) finalised 313 Program of Work applications in July, significantly reducing the backlog of applications awaiting assessment.
This has cut the wait times for applications being assessed from 16 business days to seven business days.
A Program of Work is required before exploration activities can begin.
In a further move to streamline approvals, DEMIRS will begin the rollout of its Resources Online digital solution for submitting mining environmental applications.
This represents a significant milestone in the government’s digital transformation program, which aims to simplify and streamline the approvals process and improve the customer experience, data collection and business intelligence.
Importantly, Release 1 of Resources Online will also include a trial of the Eligible Mining Activity framework. Eligible mining activities are those that do not occur in sensitive environments, do not result in lasting environmental impacts and can be managed through the imposition of standard conditions without the need for assessment by an environmental officer.
As part of the trial, exploration applications that meet the criteria of an eligible mining activity will be fast-tracked through the system, resulting in further efficiencies in the approvals process for exploration activities.
The State Government also continues its support for the state’s explorers with the opening of Round 30 of the successful Exploration Incentive Scheme’s (EIS) Co-funded Drilling Program.
The previous round of the Co-funded Drilling Program saw continued interest in battery minerals exploration, with 57 per cent of the successful 47 projects targeting these commodities, including rare earth elements lithium and nickel-cobalt.
Funding available ranges from $40,000 to $220,000. The EIS has awarded more than $215 million since its inception in 2009.
Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum, David Michael, said that exploration is essential to the development of future mines in Western Australia and the State Government is committed to making the approvals process as efficient as possible.
“These milestones highlight our commitment and represent meaningful initiatives that will support explorers and exploration in this state,” Minister Michael said.
“I am particularly proud of the contribution of the Exploration Incentive Scheme’s Co-funded Drilling Program, which has already proven its success in supporting explorers to make several significant mineral discoveries across Western Australia.”
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