Western Australia obtains record resources sales

Western Australia has secured $167.3 billion in resources sales for the 2019 calendar year, according to figures from the state’s Department of Mines, Industry, Regulation and Safety (DMIRS).

The sales saw a 28 per cent growth from 2018 ($130.3 billion), which has mainly been from iron and gold production.

Iron ore has flourished in Western Australia after $97.7 billion of the material was sold, accounting for 76 per cent of overall mineral sales in Western Australia last year.

The DMIRS said this was largely due to peaking iron ore prices in the first half of 2019 in the wake of global supply shocks.

Gold sales in Western Australia also followed suit, with the amount of sales being the greatest the state has seen in more than 20 years with an all-time high of $13.8 billion worth of gold sold last year.

This was mostly due to record gold prices in 2019, which saw a median of more than $2000 per ounce.

Nickel sales also rose to $3.1 billion, marking their highest figure in five years.

Industry confidence in Western Australia contributed to the state’s strong performance and influx of resource projects, which were estimated to be worth $118.4 billion as of March this year.

The statistics also found that employment rose to a record 133,094 workers from 120,511 in 2018.