Western Australia continues to prop up the national economy in the face of COVID-19, with the state’s resource sector generating record revenues of $ 210 billion and its highest number of jobs on record in during the past financial year.
The remarkable results challenge the economic turmoil seen across much of the world and underscore the importance of the state’s work in ensuring the sector continues to operate safely throughout the pandemic.
Sales of minerals and petroleum in WA increased by $ 38 billion to reach $ 210 billion from 2019-2020 to 2020-21.
Jobs supported by the sector increased from 135,000 in 2019-2020 to 149,400 in 2020-21.
These results follow the state’s strong economic performance throughout the pandemic, where Washington state’s national economy grew 5.7% between the December 2019 quarter and the June 2021 quarter.
It’s the strongest of the states and almost double the rest of the nation when WA is excluded (2.9 percent).
Western Australia accounted for well over half (56.2%) of national goods exports in 2020-2021.
Sales of iron ore hit a record $ 155 billion. Gold sales were valued at $ 16.6 billion, up 4% from 2019-2020, while nickel sales were valued at $ 3.5 billion – the highest sales value industry in seven years.
The alumina and bauxite activities also contributed significantly to the growth of the sector.
Mineral exploration reached $ 2.1 billion in 2020-2021, an increase of 21% from $ 1.7 billion in 2019-2020, as WA’s share of national mineral exploration spending increases. at 65%.
Nearly $ 21 billion has been invested in Western Australia’s mining and oil sector, up from $ 19 billion in 2019-20 – and the highest in five years.
Western Australia has around $ 127 billion in resource projects in the development pipeline.