MINERAL and petroleum sales of $238 billion, strong exploration spending and record gold sales have helped push Western Australian jobs growth for a record seventh year.
The resources sector in 2023/24 had 134,871 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, and positions in mining operations were up year-on-year for most minerals, particularly lithium, gold and iron ore.
A 29 October media release from Premier Roger Cook and mines minister David Michael said WA remained the leading destination for exploration investment in Australia with the $2.58 billion spent in 2023-24 accounting for 62% of the national spend. Key exploration targets included critical minerals such as lithium, rare earths (which achieved record spending levels), nickel/cobalt and copper.
“Iron ore continues to be the bedrock of WA’s resource output, with sales of $142 billion supported by higher prices and record production of 866 million tonnes,” the release said.
“Gold continued to shine with all-time high sales of $21 billion driven by the highest prices ever recorded.
“Despite the market headwinds for battery minerals, lithium ($8.4 billion), nickel ($3.8 billion) and copper ($1.1 billion) achieved strong sales, as did alumina ($6.6 billion), mineral sands ($1.2 billion) and salt ($814 million – the highest on record).
“The petroleum sector continued to be an important contributor to the State economy with sales of $51 billion. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was the main driver with sales of $36 billion, followed by condensate at $8.4 billion, domestic gas at $2.9 billion and crude oil at $2.5 billion.
“WA’s reputation as a well-regulated and reliable business partner saw more than $32 billion invested in the resources sector in 2023-24. This result continues the upwards trend in investment since mid-2019.
“The investment pipeline also had projects valued at about $50 billion committed or under construction.”
