AMEC calls for stronger support for future discoveries

Explorers’ ability to access, test and develop future resources will lay the foundation for Australia’s next mining boom.

The next phase of mining exploration in Australia will rely on maintaining strong support across both brownfields and greenfields activity, while ensuring the sector continues to navigate evolving cost, approvals and access requirements.

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) chief executive officer Warren Pearce said land access will play a central role in shaping Australia’s future exploration success and the discoveries that follow.

Speaking to Mining, Pearce said there is an opportunity for governments, industry and stakeholders to further strengthen the frameworks that support exploration and help secure the mines needed in the decades ahead.

“I think what you’ve seen over the last few years is a change in industry towards where the exploration dollars are being spent,” he said.

“A lot of that is going towards brownfields exploration, which is important, with the expansion of existing mines and utilising the existing infrastructure.

“Those are certainly good things, but it also means less money is going into greenfield exploration, and that is where we’re going to find the next generation of big projects that will stock the pipeline for the future.”

While there is an array of small exploration companies, Pearce said attracting investment into that space has become increasingly competitive, highlighting the importance of maintaining a balance between greenfield and brownfield exploration activity.

He referred to land access as one of the key factors influencing exploration program timelines, adding that it can take time to “get on the ground” in the first place.

“The biggest barrier to land access in Western Australia is cultural heritage,” Pearce said.

“That is engaging with Traditional Owners who often don’t have a lot of capacity to actually deal with the work in front of them.”

Pearce said AMEC’s own data showed that costs associated with addressing cultural heritage requirements in land access grants had increased 50 per cent since 2022, reinforcing the need for greater government support to strengthen engagement capabilities between Traditional Owners and exploration companies.

“There needs to be more support from the State Government in resetting the framework for cultural heritage protection here in Western Australia,” Pearce said. “This is to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with Traditional Owners faster, because the reality is, they’re not well resourced.

“They’re being given the responsibility to engage with [exploration companies] to manage the surveys and the protection of heritage, but are not really funded to do it.”

When the latest round of the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) was announced, AMEC showed strong support, emphasising that it continues to unlock early-stage exploration.

AMEC welcomed the EIS’s Round 33 $12 million funding towards exploration activities across the state, with Pearce saying the EIS remains one of the most effective tools available, providing companies “the confidence” to test new ideas and explore under-covered regions that might otherwise be overlooked.

He added that the EIS has been an “absolute foundation” for attracting new investment into exploration in Western Australia, with a strong focus on greenfield, and serves as an enabler for both industry and government to drive cooperation into new areas and geology.

While he agrees that the current model provides a strong level of flexibility, he also said there continue to be opportunities to expand the EIS’s reach, both “in terms of its quantum” and in the types of exploration techniques it supports.

“I think we want to see that those programs continue to support more innovative exploration that might help better target our drilling efforts,” Pearce said.

“Over time, we’d also like to see that program expand beyond just exploration, to support some of the more challenging pieces of infeasibility.”

This infeasibility, once more, revolves around Traditional Owner group support and liaison, with Pearce adding that more of these groups in WA would benefit from additional capacity to work with industry and government, and that there is an opportunity to establish a clearer baseline for negotiations.

“Don’t start with a blank piece of paper, we need to know, more or less, what’s a fair and reasonable arrangement that can be tailored for the circumstances of Country,” Pearce said.

He highlighted that anthropologists and archaeologists, as well as consultants and lawyers who have investments in the exploration space, can play a role in helping streamline processes between proponents and Traditional Owners.

“Getting things on the ground remains the biggest barrier for investment, because the investor knows that when they put their money in, they won’t be seeing any activity for about 18 months,” Pearce said.

“Or maybe even two years, for a return on their investment; so if we can unwind some of those aspects, make the Native title and cultural heritage process more efficient, while still giving Traditional Owners a strong say in what happens, those are the best things we can do.

“But to do that, we need state and territory governments to work on their cultural heritage legislation, their frameworks, and we need the Federal Government to think carefully about how that legislation works in practice.”

Funding boost

Both AMEC and Pearce showed support when the WA state budget was released in early May, highlighting its $91.7 million investment into the Strategic Industries Fund and broader economic infrastructure for growth across the Goldfields and Mid-West regions, as well as the $10 million over two years for the  Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety Program (MARS).

“Western Australia’s mining and exploration industry continues to underpin the state’s economic strength and future prosperity,” he said.

“In an increasingly competitive global environment, continued investment into exploration, approvals systems, infrastructure and energy reliability remains crucial.”

For AMEC, the broader question now is whether that investment can be matched by continued improvements in the systems that determine how quickly explorers can access ground, complete surveys, work with Traditional Owners and progress towards discovery.

Pearce said exploration remained central to Australia’s long-term mining pipeline, and that its success would rely on governments, industry and Traditional Owner groups continuing to build a more efficient and better-resourced model.

The opportunity here, according to him, is not simply encouraging more exploration spending but ensuring that the investment can translate into activity on the ground.

“In the end, the entire industry relies on exploration continuing to take place,” Pearce said.

“For us, getting that ground is the biggest barrier, and it’s the biggest barrier to getting investment.”

Australia’s next wave of discoveries, Pearce said, will rely on exploration investment translating into real activity on the field. With demand for new mineral deposits continuing to grow, industry, governments and Traditional Owner groups will all play an important role in helping explorers move projects forward and unlock future discoveries as a result.

Together, new ground will be broken.

This feature appeared in the Winter 2026 Edition of the Mining Magazine.