The Co-funded Exploration Drilling Program is a flagship program of the Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS). It is a competitive program, open for applications twice a year, which offers up to a 50 per cent refund for innovative exploration drilling projects, capped at specific amounts.
Applications for grants for exploration drilling to be undertaken in 2023-24 Round 27 are now closed.
Applications for Round 28 (drilling from 1 December 2023 to 30 November 2024) will be open 7 August 2023.
Refund capped values have increased and deep-hole project criteria have changed for Round 25 and beyond.
Co-funding in application categories is up to 50 per cent of direct drilling costs, these are now capped at:
- $220,000 for one or two deep hole(s) application (was $200,000 for one deep hole)
- $180,000 for a multihole application (was $150,000)
- $40,000 for a prospector application (was $30,000)
Co-funding will be available for exploration drilling only. The following will not be eligible for co-funding:
- resource definition drilling
- appraisal, stimulation and development drilling
- applicants should note that the government will not support the development of new uranium mines
The grant process is competitive, with marks assigned to your responses to the criteria (detailed in the application forms). Applications are ranked according to the total marks gained and grants offered until exhaustion of available funding.
Co-funded drilling Round timetable
Information for applicants
The grants are paid to successful applicants in two tranches. Once the drilling project is completed, explorers are eligible for a refund of 80 per cent of the grant on submission of the interim report, with the final 20 per cent refund available on submission of the final report.
Information about the application process is contained in Advice for applicants which should be read before applying.
Full details of the funding process are detailed in the Guidelines for submission of applications December 2023–November 2024, Round 28.
If successful, applicants will be expected to abide by the conditions set out in the Funding agreement document, Round 28.
Where applicants are not the tenement holder, the tenement holder must agree to the conditions under which co-funding is offered Tenement owner agreement.
Funding will only be offered to those Applicants holding, or having access to, a granted mining tenement or petroleum title. For pending tenements or titles, see Guidelines document section 6.
Drilling must be conducted according to land access and environmental procedures for Western Australian mining tenements or petroleum, or geothermal titles.
Important update to all applicants: The EIS co-funding exploration drilling program will not support applications where proposed drilling intersects a File Notation Area (FNA) with a purpose for the creation of conservation areas (e.g. National parks) under the State Government’s Plan for Our Parks initiative. FNA’s can be found on the following DMIRS databases: GeoVIEW.WA (under Special Category Lands), Data and Software centre (under Special Category Lands) and Tengraph web.
Online Application process
The current round is now CLOSED.
The system will close to Round 28 will open 7 August 2023.
Apply for co-funding General application
Apply for co-funding Prospector application