A series of DMIRS workshops held during the 2017 Africa Down Under conference highlight WA’s continued commitment to supporting the overall development of mineral and petroleum resources in Africa.
| Date: | Thursday, 28 September 2017 |
|---|
As part of Australia Africa Week, the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) hosted a series of mining workshops at the annual Africa Down Under Conference (ADU).
Now in its 15th year, the conference works to raise awareness of Australia’s interests in African mining and energy. It is the world’s second largest African mining conference after Mining Indaba in South Africa and this year attracted close to 1000 participants, including 18 national delegations, nine African Ministers and other dignitaries.
The ‘Policy and Capacity Building for a Successful and Sustainable Mining Sector’ workshops included presentations on the use of geoscience information, policy and legislation, Western Australia’s royalties system, environmental and safety regulation, and mining titles administration.
DMIRS’ Acting Deputy Director General, Dr Phil Gorey, who chaired one of the sessions said workshop attendance increased this year, mainly from the African government delegations.
“These workshops give us the perfect platform to explain to delegates how Western Australia develops its resources sector and, more importantly, how the approach we use here in WA could be adapted to assist in the sustainable development of mineral and petroleum resources in African countries,” he said.
Western Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the 19-nation Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in January 2014, the key objectives of which include sharing knowledge and technology in the fields of mining, petroleum and agriculture.
Since the signing, a joint working group comprising COMESA, DMIRS and the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation (JTSI) was established to support and implement key elements of the agreement. The joint working group met for the sixth time during ADU.
“We made some real progress at the joint working group meeting, particularly looking at how Western Australia can help to enable longer term, in-country capacity building opportunities for African countries,” Dr Gorey said.
