Perth will be the home base for the Australian Future Mines Centre if the Australian Labor Party is successful at the upcoming Federal Election.
Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Jason Clare said the party would establish Western Australia as the centre for “kick-starting” the discovery of new mines across the country.
“Western Australia employs four out of every 10 mining workers, contributes around half of our total mining exports and is an innovation powerhouse when it comes to exploration and discovery,” he said.
The Australian Future Mines centre will aim to lead scientific research, development and co-ordinating necessary to discover the two-thirds of mineral deposits that remain unexplored, tapping into cutting edge collaboration amongst universities, along with industry, the CSIRO and the Australian Academy of Sciences
The Centre will be funded through a $46 million Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative – with the ALP pledging to provide $23 million and the balance to come from state governments, universities and private sector partners.
Labor will also provide 50 mining engineering scholarships for Australian students attending WA universities, each worth $20,000 with half of them for women.
Mr Clare said pair technology like machine learning and big-data analytics with new scientific approaches was needed to discovering these deposits which reside deep below the surface.
“These deposits are the mines of the future – and we need to do more to find the critical commodities that will power our future mining exports, like rare earth elements, copper, gold and lithium,” he said.
The Centre will also deliver on the need for an industry data strategy and explore options for innovation collaboration across the sector – key recommendations of the Resources 2030 Taskforce Report, which also builds on the Uncover Australia roadmap.
Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME) chief executive Paul Everingham said the ALP commitment was great news for the state’s resources sector, which was committed to continual growth through exploration, as well as skilling the next generation of workers
The location announcement came soon after the ALP released its “Future Mines and Jobs Plan”, which included the establishment of the centre, to co-ordinate exploration work and lead the scientific research and development necessary to explore under deep cover.
AREEA welcomed positive elements of the ALP’s plan, while noting the party should more clearly support new projects already committed, including the Adani Carmichael Coal Project.
“We welcome the ALP’s commitment to establish an Australian Future Mines Centre to guide ongoing industry development,” AREEA said.
“However, there is little point in the ALP publicly declaring a zest to discover new mineral reserves when it won’t support those already identified and committed to by investors.”
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