"This initiative means companies can understand where critical resources seams are located and how they interact with the needs of other important onshore and offshore projects"
Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA, Chief Executive, Rebecca Tomkinson
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME) has today welcomed the Federal Government's announcement of $566 million to boost data collection and map resource deposits on land and under the seabed as part of the Resourcing Australia's Prosperity initiative.
CME Chief Executive, Rebecca Tomkinson, said the investment in Geoscience Australia under the Future Made in Australia policy was an intelligent way to leverage geoscientific data and ensure projects had greater clarity for investment and initiation.
"This initiative means companies can understand where critical resources seams are located and how they interact with the needs of other important onshore and offshore projects," Ms Tomkinson said.
"Having publicly available information is critical to ensuring there is common understanding of locations of resources so that future development can balance land interests and values across environmental protection, agriculture, electricity generation, transmission infrastructure, social needs, and large-scale renewable energy projects.
"It's counter-intuitive, for example, to place a wind or solar farm directly over an area that is needed for the critical minerals deposits required by renewable energy projects."
Ms. Tomkinson added the funding boost will augment work already being done by Geoscience Australia and will complement the local dataset from Geological Survey of WA but warned there was little point in discovering more deposits if there were unviable constraints to develop them.
"It's important this investment in scientific data is supported by appropriate industry policy to ensure Australians can benefit from the immense opportunity laying below the surface," she said.
"Today's announcement is consistent with a key theme in CME's Federal Pre-Budget Submission with recommendations aimed at 'unlocking investment'. The right policy and fiscal settings will be critical to ensure the discovery of new mineral seams can then be developed efficiently and in a competitive way.
"Exploration is the foundation of the resource development pipeline and the development of those resources is imperative to the industry's ongoing contribution to the state and federal economies, employment, services, and social infrastructure. The State and Federal Budgets tell us that much."
Ms Tomkinson said it was pleasing to note that the mapping specifically included offshore areas that were critical for the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS). She said CCS technology was seen as an important part of Australia's decarbonisation pathway.
