World class resource province

The State also accounts for significant shares of the world’s production of economic minerals. For specific mineral statistics please view Resource Statistics within our Investors pages.

Investment opportunities in WA’s mineral and petroleum sector range from:

  • Licence-free areas with potential prospectivity
  • Industry joint ventures, taking equity in already established resource companies
  • Investment into the service sector of WA.

Although many discoveries have been made in WA, many exploration opportunities for investors still remain with vast amounts of mineral and petroleum wealth yet to be discovered.

The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) assists investors by providing geological and commodity information from the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) including reports, maps and internationally recognized state-of-the-art databases documenting the geology, mineral and petroleum resources of WA. This data is freely available to view or download from online systems and databases on the Department’s website.

Additionally, the department manages the Perth Core Library and the Joe Lord Core Library in Kalgoorlie, which archive representative drill core from mineral deposits and petroleum fields. This  includes core and cuttings from offshore areas administered by the Commonwealth Government.

All of GSWA’s services can assist investors to understand the geology of WA and improve exploration efficiency for new and existing projects.

Petroleum acreage and mineral tenements are managed by the department and additional information can be viewed through Petroleum Prospectivity and Acreage Release or Minerals and Mining, respectively.

Investors looking to make major resource investments should initially contact the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation or if they are based overseas, visit one of Western Australia’s overseas offices in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom.

Investment into WA’s resource sector can result in great success for the investor and the State.  Prospect magazine highlights recent news, investment updates and State mineral and petroleum discovery successes and is available to view or download online. For specific information to petroleum and geothermal energy resources activity and success in WA, please view the Petroleum in West Australia Magazine.

One such success is the Chevron-operated Gorgon Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) Project. At $55 billion, Gorgon is a 15.6 million tonne per annum LNG plant on Barrow Island, off the north-west coast of Western Australia and is the largest single resource development in Australia’s history and one of the largest natural gas projects in the world.

For more information on major investment projects in the State, please view the Latest Resource Investment Release.