Gold explorers dominate WA drill program 26-June-09 by Rebecca Lawson
Gold explorers have made up half of the final successful applicants for first round of the state government's new co-funded industry drilling program.
Mines Minister Norman Moore said 17 of the 35 applicants for the fiscal 2010 program were gold explorers.
"It is pleasing to see that gold, once the stalwart of WA's resources industry, is enjoying a resurgence," Mr Moore said.
"The new program provides each applicant with up to 50 per cent funding for their direct drilling costs capped at $150,000 to help fund exploration drilling activities in WA's under-explored areas."
Following gold, the next most popular mineral target was base metals with 14 applications.
"The Goldfields and Esperance regions appeared in 16 exploration applications," Mr Moore said.
"This was followed by the Mid-West, which appeared in nine applications."
The state government has committed a total of $20.5 million to the new drill program over the next four years, as part of a wider $80 million Exploration Incentive Scheme set up under the royalties for regions policy.
Successful applicants were selected by a panel of industry experts including representatives from the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC), Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA and the Australia Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
The list of successful applicants are below. Some applicants received more than one fund allocation.
A1 Minerals Ltd Alchemy Resources Aura Energy Ltd Aurora Resources Pty Ltd AusQuest Ltd Australian Mineral Fields Pty Ltd Barrick Gold Australia Ltd Beadell Resources Ltd Corvette Resources Ltd Crescent Gold Ltd David Reed Syndicate Echo Resources Ltd Encounter Resources Ltd Enterprise Metals Ltd Goldfields Ltd - St Ives Gold Mine Pty Ltd Gunson Resources Ltd Helix Resources Ltd Iluka Resources Ltd. Magnetic Resources NL Murchison Metals Ltd NiPlats Australia Ltd Rubicon Resources Ltd Silver Swan Group Ltd Sipa Resources Ltd St Barbara Ltd Teck Australia Pty Ltd Thundelarra Exploration Ltd Toro Energy U3O8 Ltd
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