MORE than 30 per cent of all global mining expenditure will be conducted using e-business, presenting tremendous opportunities for WA mining supply firms, according to the Australian Trade Commission.
Austrade mining national manager Greg Carmody said that, by using e-business, WA-based suppliers of mining equipment and services, and suppliers from related sectors such as infrastructure, could grab a bigger share of the international market, expected to exceed $200 billion this financial year. Australia’s share is just $1.5 billion per year.
Austmine, with about 90 members, is the peak export body in Australia for the mining technology and services industry. It estimates Australia could double that supply by 2005.
Mr Carmody said using existing services such as Quadrem could provide the window to the export market.
“The top 25 mining companies in the world, including BHP and CODELCO in Chile, have put a lot of effort into creating a mining e-marketplace called Quadrem,” Mr Carmody said.
“Small to medium-sized WA-based companies already supplying solutions to the mining sector in Australia have the opportunity using e-business to go global. The scope to expand the scale of small to medium mining suppliers is huge.”
A Mining for eBusiness seminar organised by Austrade is being held in Perth on July 5.