- Resources Sector Awards for Excellence celebrate outstanding achievements across WA's job-creating resources sector
- Award-winning projects support local jobs, strengthen regional communities, and deliver lasting environmental and social benefits
- Winners showcase innovation, stewardship, and collaboration helping secure the future of WA's resources workforce
Mines, Petroleum and Exploration Minister Daniel Pastorelli has congratulated the winners of the Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration's annual Resources Sector Awards for Excellence, held in Perth today.
The awards highlight the people, projects, and partnerships delivering tangible environmental, social, and economic benefits across Western Australia's resources sector.
BHP and Care for Hedland Environmental Association received this year's Community Partnership Award for their long-running collaboration to strengthen environmental sustainability and community stewardship in Port Hedland.
The partnership supports a range of local initiatives, including recycling and waste reduction programs, sustainability education, and the region's flatback turtle monitoring program. These efforts have helped protect more than 64,900 flatback turtle eggs from predation.
Between 2022 and 2025, Aboriginal employment across Care for Hedland's programs reached 32 per cent.
During the same period, more than 10,600 hours were dedicated to environmental and sustainability activities.
A further 2.9 tonnes of litter was removed from local environments.
Rox Resources and Winda Barna Art Centre received a Highly Commended Community Partnership award for a project that supported emerging Badimia artists, strengthened cultural knowledge sharing, and delivered lasting benefits to the local community.
Bellevue Gold, Hancock Iron Ore, and Iluka Resources each received a Golden Gecko Award for Environmental Excellence in recognition of their achievements.
Bellevue Gold was recognised for its net-zero approach at the Bellevue Gold Mine, integrating solar, wind, and battery storage technology to reduce reliance on diesel and LNG while enabling the production of fully traceable green gold.
Hancock Iron Ore was acknowledged for embedding rehabilitation into day-to-day operations at Roy Hill, resulting in approximately 1100 hectares rehabilitated across mine areas and a further 2,100 hectares along the rail corridor.
Iluka Resources was recognised for an innovative conservation project at Tutunup South that demonstrated how mining and environmental protection can successfully coexist.
The initiative preserved and reinstated a rare wetland ecosystem, resulting in the conservation of a priority ecological community and the recovery of rare plant species.
BHP received a Highly Commended Golden Gecko Award for its Finish and Fill Progressive Closure Strategy.
The approach reduces land disturbance by returning waste material to mined-out pits, supporting progressive rehabilitation and more sustainable closure outcomes.
More information and a full list of winners are available online.
As stated by Mines, Petroleum and Exploration Minister Daniel Pastorelli:
"Congratulations to this year's winners and participants for the work they are doing to support jobs, investment, and economic opportunities throughout Western Australia.
"These projects highlight the vital role our resources sector plays in creating and sustaining jobs while delivering meaningful outcomes for communities and the environment.
"The participants are helping build the industries, skills, and workforce that will underpin WA jobs for generations to come and keep our State at the forefront of responsible resource development."
