The annual release of mineral exploration reports will commence at the beginning of May 2025. A list of reports submitted in 2019, and between 2013 and 2014, under Section 115a of the Mining Act 1978 is now available on the department's website.
Tenement holders and operators have two months to object to the release of mineral exploration reports following the listing of the eligible reports.
Regulation 96(5) states that the Minister of Mines and Petroleum may, upon the written application of the holder of a mining tenement, refuse to release the information for a further period or further periods not exceeding five years in each case. Objections must be received by Friday 25 April 2024.
The first five-year period of confidentiality is mandatory. The period of confidentiality granted, following an acceptable objection from the tenement holder, is at the Minister's discretion.
Objections made in 2019 to the release of reports submitted in 2014 have now lapsed and need to be renewed or the reports will be released. A list of those reports is available on the department's website.
The Geological Survey of Western Australia released around 1,600 reports in 2024. Mining and exploration data is an invaluable resource for the State, mining and exploration companies and the geoscientific community.
