Mining in Western Australia

Mining in Western Australia
Position of Western Australia within Australia highlighted
Location
State	Western Australia
Country	Australia
Regulatory authority
Authority	Department of Mines and Petroleum
Website	Official website
Production
Commodity	Iron ore - 341.64 million tonnes Gold - 142,519 kg Nickel - 172,000 tonnes Alumina - 12.4 million tonnes Copper - 142,000 tonnes Zinc - 105,000 tonnes Lead - 27,000 tonnes Mineral Sands - not reported Salt - 9.5 million tonnes Cobalt - 4,629 tonnes Diamonds - 11.9 million carats Coal - 6.6 million tonnes
Value	A$48.2 billion
Employees	70,063
Year	2009

Mining in Western Australia, together with the petroleum industry in the state, accounted for 92 per cent of the State’s and 41% of Australia's income from total merchandise exports in 2015-16. The state of Western Australia hosted 111 principal mining projects and hundreds of smaller quarries and mines. The principal projects produced more than 99 per cent of the industry’s total sales value.

Western Australia’s mineral and petroleum industry, in 2015-16, had a value of $87.9 billion, of which $69.5 billion was created by the mining industry. Although down 12 per cent from 2014–15, compared with the value of the mineral and petroleum industry in 2005–06 at $43 billion, the industry’s current value remains more than twice what it was 10 years ago.

Iron ore was, in 2009, the most important commodity in Western Australia, accounting for 46 percent of sales in the state's mineral and petroleum industry. The petroleum sector followed in second place with 28 percent of the overall value, consisting of oil and gas. The fourth-most important commodity in the state was gold, which was also the only one in 2009 to experience a gain in prices, when every other one of the major commodities declined. Alumina and Nickel followed in the order of importance, still each achieving a value in excess of A$3 billion. Of the other majors, the Base Metals, Copper, Lead and Zinc, as well as Diamonds, Cobalt, Coal, Mineral Sands and Salt all stayed below the A$1 billion mark in value in 2009.

Employment in the Western Australian mining and petroleum industry has sharply increased from 75,000 in 2009, directly employing an average of 103,638 people during 2015–16.

The industry's regulating authority in Western Australia is the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP), which replaced the previously existing Department of Industry and Resources (DOIR) on 1 January 2009. The department, among other things, produces the annual Western Australian Mineral and Petroleum Statistic Digest and operates the MINDEX website, which is aimed at listing all current and former mining operations in the state.