Round 16 applicants encompass a diverse range of applicants and mix of commodities
| Date: | Tuesday, 05 December 2017 |
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The State Government has today released its list of successful applicants for Round 16 of the Co-funded Exploration Drilling program, the Exploration Incentive Scheme’s (EIS) flagship program.
Up to $4.83 million will be offered to 44 drilling projects and will apply to projects drilled between January and December 2018.
One of several programs within the EIS, the co-funded drilling program aims to increase private sector resource exploration to help lead to new mineral and energy discoveries. The exploration increases knowledge of the State’s geology and resources, while also helping to increase employment opportunities.
Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) Acting EIS Coordinator, Charlotte Hall said most of the activities in the EIS are focused in underexplored greenfield regions and the Round 16 recipients are no exception to this covering a geographically wide spread throughout the State.
“From the South West to the north Perth Basin, and from the west Kimberley to the remote Amadeus basin on the eastern margin of Western Australia, the successful Round 16 applicants encompass a diverse range of applicants and mix of commodities including lithium, gold, copper, base metals, potash, petroleum and nickel,” she said.
Organisations will be refunded up to 50 per cent of direct drilling costs – with caps of $150,000 for a multi-hole project, $200,000 for a single deep hole, and $30,000 for a prospector’s project.
Refunds are made after completion of drilling and submission of comprehensive reports with analytical data which are released publically on the department’s WAMEX and WAPIMS databases after a six month confidentiality period.
Recent EIS’ success stories include the copper-dominated discoveries in the eastern Pilbara by Antipa Minerals (Minyari copper-nickel-cobalt discovery), Sipa Resources (Paterson North copper-gold project), Encounter Resources’ copper and zinc prospects and Great Boulder Resources’ significant copper-nickel-cobalt discovery at Mt Venn east of Laverton.
Another round of co-funded drilling will be undertaken between July 2018 and the end of June 2019 and the application process for Round 17 will open in February 2018.
A list of successful R16 applicants and a map showing the distribution of projects are available on the DMIRS website.
