WESTERN Australia is experiencing phenomenal growth in mineral and petroleum exploration investment, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The ABS figures showed that WA’s mineral exploration expenditure rose by 39% to $839.2million in 2006-07, accounting for nearly half of Australia’s total.
The petroleum sector had seen the biggest increase, with exploration expenditure more than doubling from $611 million in 2005-06 to $1.481 billion in 2006-07.
Base metal exploration had more than doubled, rising from $23 million to $65 million, iron ore had also experienced a significant increase of 70% from $160 million to $272 million, with gold rising 12% to $277 million.