Reports back resource growth

THE Department of Minerals and Energy and the Department of Resources Development released their annual reports this week.

The Department of Minerals and Energy 2000 annual report reinforces WA’s international prominence as a mineral province.

“In 1999-2000 our mining and petroleum industries generated record sales of nearly $21.3 billion,” Department of Minerals and Energy director general Lee Ranford said.

“ This represented a massive 27.7 per cent increase in value, which is more than four times our 10-year average annual growth rate of 6.4 per cent.”

The Resources Development report restates the department’s commitment to helping companies make successful investments in the resource sector in WA.

The Department claims that in 1999 WA’s contribution to national mining investment fell to 41 per cent in the face of the deferral of a number of planned investments due to a fall in global commodity prices. Only the LNG and LPG sectors marginally increased production.