The North West is Western Australia's primary resource producing region. It is a vast region encompassing the Pilbara and fields off the Pilbara coast. Commodities produced in the region include iron ore, copper, gold and silver, manganese and salt, crude oil and condensate, liquified natural gas, natural gas, LPG Butane and Propane.
The Federal Government once had an export ban on iron ore, however with significant discoveries during the 1950’s the export embargo was lifted in 1960. This saw work commence on establishing the extent of iron ore within WA, which has subsequently resulted in making Australia a global player in iron ore production. The establishment of many towns throughout the North West are a direct result of this commodity.
Approximately 300 million tonnes of iron ore were exported in 2008/09. Pilbara iron ore had total sales value of nearly $30billion (2008) which makes it the leading commodity. There are now $17.7 billion of committed iron ore projects in the Pilbara.
Western Australia’s largest oil and gas field is the Carnarvon Basin off the north-west coast. Following the discovery in 1971/1972 of the North West Shelf gas fields the Woodside-operated North West Shelf Venture has seen $27 billion invested in facilities that make up Australia’s largest oil and gas resource development. Australia’s biggest resource project the Gorgon Joint Venture is set for development and a further $19.6 billion of offshore committed projects are to be developed in the Scarborough and Macedon areas. The petroleum sector accounted for $21.3 billion in 2008/09.
Thousands of kilometres of pipeline from the north west provide gas to the southern regions of the state as a source of energy to businesses and the community. The region also has some of the longest railway lines (much of which is owned by the companies themselves) to ensure the minerals make it to some of the busiest ports in all of Australia.
CME in the North West
Within the North West Region CME is focused on the following strategies to deliver the industry’s vision:
- Infrastructure and Planning – Social infrastructure provided by government; supported by industry
- Infrastructure and Planning – An industry-government infrastructure plan for State and regional development
- Infrastructure and Planning – Coordination between the responsibilities of government, industry and community in the provision of social and physical infrastructure
- Communities – FIFO is a sustainable work practice
- People – Increase the size of the skilled labour pool
Regional council
The North West Regional Council is chaired by Mr Chris Cottier of BHP Billiton.
Statistics courtesy of the Department of Mines and Petroleum and Woodside