WA resource sector delivering some impressive results

Despite the falling iron ore price and the tough trading conditions of commodities, Western Australia is still coming out of their corner fighting, delivering some impressive results.

Recently the Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum published a report that, amongst other things made a point of valuing the State’s resources sector at about $114 billion for last year (2014).

The valuation seems to point to WA being the highest value state in terms of it’s contribution to the resources sector, although having said that, the valuation tends to reduce year after year. This downward trend is mainly due to the dose-diving iron ore price which once stood around $360 a tonne at the height of the mining boom, whereas now, it stands around the high $60 mark.

Although there is talk of declining values, let’s out this into perspective because the WA mining industry and resource sector collectively, represents a decline of no more than than one per cent. This is calculated on the 2013 figures, so in retrospect, this is a good result given the tough economic climate the industry faced in 2014.

WA as the leading state in mining investment

Mining in Western Australia has positioned WA as the leading state in in so far as mining investment goes.

“$46 billion invested into the WA resource sector”

The Australian Bureau of Statistics stats tell a story about the State`s mining industry which, in 2014 had invested $46 billion into growing the sector. As far as capital spending goes, this figure represents about 55 per cent of the total spending if we were to take the national total into account.

It’s not a surprise to learn than iron ore mining in Western Australia, which is still WA’s highest valued commodity, kept the state chugging along.

$65 billion worth of WA iron ore exports

Some $65 billion worth of WA iron ore exports made up three quarters of all mineral sales. All of this has been achieved despite a weakening dollar and a falling iron ore price; and despite iron ore values decreasing around six per cent per year, resource sector projects and expansions kept on going, although not to the scale we saw back in 2012 and 2013.

“25 per cent higher than 2013 exports”

For those who like to read up on their mining stats, 697 million tonnes of iron ore was exported, mainly out of Port Hedland, in 2014. This total was 25 per cent higher than 2013 exports; mainly due to the drive for increased mining productivity by way of automation and technology updates.

WA rich in crude oil, natural gas, LNG and LPG

Western Australia is also rich in crude oil, natural gas, LNG and LPG which forms the state’s world famous petroleum sector. Theses sectors have increased in value by over 11 per cent in 2014 and an estimated value of some $27.6 billion.

The dominance of the WA resources sector in the nation`s economy has high expectations of continuing, despite the external challenges of increased competition and falling oil prices. This year we will also see some major projects coming ‘on-stream’ which will continue to feed WA’s growth.

Gorgon and Roy Hill contribute to future WA growth

These projects are in particular the Gorgon project on Barrow Island and Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill iron ore mine in the Pilbara region.

Hints and tips on how to search, apply for and get jobs in mining and resources

Find out about how the WA resource industry is forging ahead each week with iMINCO Project News. The free newsletter is packed with mining and resource sector news to help over 20,000 readers to up-skill, learn more about training, job opportunities and range of hints and tips on how to search, apply and get jobs in the sector.