$6.1 million offered across co-funded drilling and energy analysis program
| Date: | Wednesday, 18 October 2023 |
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- EIS to expand in 2024 to include co-funded geophysics program
Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston today announced the successful applicants for Round 28 of the Exploration Incentive Scheme's (EIS) co-funded drilling program and Series 6 of the energy analysis program.
Round 28 will offer grants worth more than $6 million to 33 general applicants and three prospectors for projects to be drilled in between December 2023 and November 2024.
More than half of the successful applicants are searching for battery minerals, including five projects exploring for lithium, six for rare earth elements and 13 for nickel.
Series 6 will offer $120,000 in total to three successful applicants who are undertaking analysis and reprocessing projects in the Canning Basin and the Officer Basin.
The overall funding across both programs is $6.1 million.
Recent EIS success stories include Miramar Resources confirming the presence of copper sulphide mineralisation at its Whaleshark project in the Ashburton region, while OD6 Metals delivered encouraging rare earth element results at its Splinter Rock project near Esperance.
The EIS will expand next year to include a co-funded geophysics program that will offer $2 million per year to co-fund greenfields exploration geophysics data acquisition.
This program will open for applications in February 2024 along with Round 29 of the cofunded drilling program and Series 7 of the EAP.
For more information on the EIS and this round’s successful applicants, visit:
http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Geological-Survey/EIS-Government-co-funded-1433.aspx
Comments attributed to Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston:
“The Cook Government understands that supporting exploration activity across Western Australia is crucial to our State’s economic success.
“No other Australian State comes close to matching our commitment to mineral exploration, and we are working hard to ensure WA continues to lead the pack.
“The ongoing interest in the Exploration Incentive Scheme reflects the strength of WA’s exploration sector and industry’s confidence in our State’s economic future.”
