The Western Australian government has announced more support for the mining industry by expediting approvals, streamlining the approvals process and providing incentives to explorers.

The Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS) finalised 313 Program of Work applications last month, significantly reducing the backlog of applications awaiting assessment.

This has cut the wait times for applications being assessed from 16 business days to seven business days.

A Program of Work is required before exploration activities can begin.

In a further move to streamline approvals, DEMIRS will next month begin the rollout of its Resources Online digital solution for submitting mining environmental applications.

This represents a significant milestone in the government's digital transformation programme, which aims to simplify and streamline the approvals process and improve the customer experience, data collection and business intelligence.

Importantly, Release 1 of Resources Online will also include a trial of the Eligible Mining Activity framework. Eligible mining activities are those that do not occur in sensitive environments, do not result in lasting environmental impacts and can be managed through the imposition of standard conditions without the need for assessment by an environmental officer.

As part of the trial, exploration applications that meet the criteria of an eligible mining activity will be fast-tracked through the system, resulting in further efficiencies in the approvals process for exploration activities.  

The government also continues its support for the state's explorers with the opening this week of Round 30 of the successful Exploration Incentive Scheme's (EIS's) Co-funded Drilling Programme.

The previous round of the programme saw continued interest in battery minerals exploration, with 57% of the successful 47 projects targeting these commodities, including rare earth elements, lithium and nickel/cobalt.

Funding available ranges from A$40 000 to A$220 000. The EIS has awarded more than A$215-million since its inception in 2009. 

"Exploration is essential to the development of future mines in WA and the Cook government is committed to making the approvals process as efficient as possible.

"These milestones highlight our commitment and represent meaningful initiatives that will support explorers and exploration in this state.

"I am particularly proud of the contribution of the Exploration Incentive Scheme's Co-funded Drilling Programme, which has already proven its success in supporting explorers to make several significant mineral discoveries across WA,” said Mines and Petroleum Minister David Michael.