The State Government has defended its proposed changes to Western Australia’s mineral tenement rental system after recent criticism from within the industry.
An industry forecast reported last week by WA Business News showed that revenues from exploration licences would escalate from $7.56 million currently to $17.5 million by 2008.
A statement from State Development Minister Clive Brown disputed the figures, however, saying that revenue was likely to be about $4 million a year, not the $9.5 million suggested by the forecast.
The statement said there would be no impact to the rent for an average three-year old exploration licence while an existing five-year old conversion date would be abolished, resulting in significantly lower rents.
However, the minister’s statement said the rent for four- and five-year old exploration licences would rise to around 48 cents per hectare.
The changes are part of a major amendment to the WA Mining Act due to come into effect in March.
Meanwhile, the Association of Mining and Exploration companies weighed in to the debate this week saying that the mechanism appeared to be a revenue raising exercise rather encouraging ground turnover.