Director General e-News - Department of Mines and Petroleum

From the Director General

Welcome to another edition of the DMP e-news. It arrives in the middle of a typically busy time for the department and the Western Australian resources industry. You will be able to read all about the various activities of DMP in the articles that follow, but I'd like to take this opportunity to provide an update on some fantastic achievements by our Mines Safety staff in particular.

The training and development program within the branch is well advanced, with most of the formational work now complete. Individual staff members have also started to assemble evidence in support of their work towards a Diploma of Government (Workplace Inspection). Finally, lead auditor occupational health and safety management systems training for technical staff is well underway, and will be followed by training in investigative skills.

These are excellent outcomes in the delivery of DMP's Reform and Development at Resources Safety strategy and in the protection of local mining workers.

Richard Sellers

Director General, Department of Mines and Petroleum

DMP pleased with budget outcomes

The Department of Mines and Petroleum has received funding for three key outcomes in the State Budget handed down last month.

Funds totalling $5.2 million over the next three years have been allocated to DMP's Accelerating Reinvestment in Western Australian Mine Sites program, to assess applications for mine site rehabilitation and the performance of rehabilitation.

A $2 million allocation over the next four years has gone towards effective management and reduction of the backlog of mineral title allocations.

And DMP has been allocated $3 million over the next three years to carry out baseline geochemical and geophysical surveys of the Kimberley Basin as part of the Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy.

DMP Director General said these were excellent outcomes for DMP and the resources industry.

"These new allocations will help the department continue to achieve its goals of promoting the responsible development of Western Australian resources in a timely and efficient manner," Mr Sellers said.

"The DMP's Accelerating Reinvestment in Western Australian Mine Sites program is expected to increase opportunities for companies while protecting the natural assets of the state."

As well as the mineral titles backlog funding, the State Government has approved $435,000 per year to enable the appointment of a full-time mining warden by the Department of the Attorney General.

"These combined allocations will ensure timely processing of titles applications and objections, resulting in quicker ground turnover and a higher rate of mining sector investment," Mr Sellers said.

Work on the Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy will be undertaken by the Geological Survey of Western Australia within DMP.

New RSD recruitment drive completed

The Department of Mines and Petroleum has completed advertising for the latest phase of its Resources Safety Division recruitment campaign.

The department began a national campaign on May 7 to fill 10 positions that have an Attraction and Retention Incentive allowance, in the fourth round of recruitment under the Reform and Development at Resources Safety (RADARS) strategy.

The positions comprise four in the Investigations Branch based at DMP's East Perth office, four in the Mines Safety Branch at Cannington and two in Mines Safety at Kalgoorlie.

DMP Director General Richard Sellers said the department was making great headway into its resources safety reforms as a result of previous recruitment campaigns.

"This new recruitment campaign will add further resources that will help DMP keep pace with growth in the resources industry," Mr Sellers said.

"RADARS has made significant improvements to the safety culture of Western Australian resources operations, but its success depends on continual improvement in the Resources Safety Division."

The positions are:

Mines Safety Branch:

• Inspector of Mines – Mining Engineer, two positions (Kalgoorlie)
• Inspector of Mines – Electrical Engineer (Cannington)
• Inspector of Mines – Mechanical (Cannington)
• Regional Inspector of Mines – South (Cannington)
• Inspector of Mines – Geotechnical (Cannington)

Investigations Branch:

• General Manager Investigations (East Perth)
• Lead Technical Investigators, three positions (East Perth)

The advertising period closed at 4pm, May 25, 2011.

Adverts appeared in a range of regional local papers, the West Australian, national papers and on specific internet sites.

Comprehensive information regarding the positions can be accessed via the intranet or the RADARS employment page: www.dmp.wa.gov.au/mining-jobs.

DG makes Ravensthorpe visit

Director General Richard Sellers recently studied a number of mining ventures around Ravensthorpe to monitor their progress and outline DMP's support for the region's economic development.

The south coast area is emerging as a new frontier of mining activity through projects such as Galaxy Resources' Mount Cattlin lithium and spodumene mine, First Quantum Minerals' Ravensthorpe Nickel project and Tectonic Resources' Phillips River gold and base metals projects.

Mr Sellers visited these sites between March 1-4 this year.

He said the level of activity was very encouraging, particularly as the region had been severely affected by the closure of the Ravensthorpe Nickel project at the height of the global economic downturn two years ago.

"Under First Quantum, that site is now a hive of activity and will support a significant local workforce from Ravensthorpe, Hopetoun and other communities on the south coast," Mr Sellers said.

"The company has made significant modifications and extensions to the original project and is expecting to enter commercial production in the second half of this year.

"There are still a number of bottlenecks that must be cleared before that stage and I offered DMP's support in achieving this."

Mr Sellers said the Mount Cattlin project was a visually stunning operation due to the various pigments contained in the lithium and spodumene ore.

The company recently lifted the total contained lithium oxide resource at the project by 14 per cent to 197,000 tonnes, which has extended the mine life potential to 18 years.

"This and the Phillips River project are valuable additions to the area and have helped to diversify the south coast's economic base from agriculture and tourism," Mr Sellers said.

He said there were issues in the region such as a potential National Heritage listing for the Fitzgerald River National Park, which would affect surrounding tenements, but these could be managed for the fullest benefit of the community and the State.

Staff members of DMP's Resources Safety Division (RSD), Lawrie Lim and Daisy Tristanto, were also in the south coast area at the same time as Mr Sellers, visiting some of the same sites to inform management and employees of changes being made to safety regulation.

RSD is implementing a risk and evidence-based approach that is expected to minimise deaths and injuries within Western Australian resources and dangerous goods operations.

"Those at the sites I visited were highly complimentary about the process and enthusiastic about cooperating with the department on improving the safety culture of the resources industry," Mr Sellers said.

Staff from DMP's Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) visited the nearby area from Bremer Bay to the Stirling Ranges in March.

The trip focused on studying the structural geology of the region, which includes rocks ranging from 40 million to 1.8 billion years old.

It was part of GSWA's training component and overall commitment to increasing the knowledge base surrounding Western Australia's resources prospectivity.

ISB team claims top prize

A collaborative effort on approvals reform within the Department of Mines and Petroleum has been rewarded with a prestigious WA Information Technology and Telecommunications Award (WAITTA).

The department's Information Services Branch worked with four other divisions to enhance their core business systems and form one end-to-end overarching approvals platform.

The systems in question, which have been actively adopted by industry, are the Environment Division's EARS, Mineral Titles' eMiTS, Petroleum's PGR and Resources Safety's SRS.

The award is testimony to DMP's efforts to develop on a commitment from the State Government to streamline the mining approvals process.

The winning project encompassed the implementation of a range of innovative and effective techniques, including online lodgement and tracking systems for industry, as well as an integrated view across the various approvals systems.

The newly implemented system means 100 different applications can be tracked across the department in an overarching system, and benefits include a consistency in process and terminology across the four divisions, leading to greater clarity.

Industry has already benefited greatly from this improved process.

Chevron Australia recently wrote to DMP's Director General Richard Sellers stating:

"We would like to make special mention of the approvals tracking tool, which has greatly improved the transparency of the title approvals process."

The results from the changes implemented have been impressive, with a 15 per cent improvement for processing days, and 65 per cent improvement within calendar days, making for a far quicker progression of the process overall.

Such changes in the timeliness of the approvals process can be attributed to alterations such as manual verification, which can now be used through online lodgement forms, reducing requirements for data capture by DMP staff.

The capability to lodge, pay and track approvals online, essentially provides a self service function for investors.

The awards were celebrating their 20th year and recognise outstanding performance and contributions by members of the information technology and telecommunications community in WA.

Mr Sellers said it was a credit to the staff involved for competing so well against both private and government organisations.

DMP earned its opportunity to present to a panel of six judges at the WAITTA finals.

On the night the department beat a submission from national consultancy firm Kinetic IT for its project at the Department of Education.

The win came a week after DMP narrowly missed out on the 27th Australian Telecommunications Users Group Excellence Awards held in Sydney's Australian Technology Park, finishing in second place.

GeoMap.WA offers a different view

The recently released free state-of-the-art visualisation tool GeoMap.WA signifies a change in approach to the distribution of regional geoscientific information in the State.

For over 100 years, the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA), a division of the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP), has been gathering and disseminating important regional geoscientific data.

Western Australia's geology, resources, and landscape, both natural and developed, are critical to the State's economy and have defined its history and culture.

GSWA Executive Director Rick Rogerson said GeoMap.WA harnessed leading-edge computer programming technologies to create a tool that provided improved access to a range of geological map and landscape information.

"It allows users to visualise, interrogate, and integrate geological and landscape maps and images such as satellite and aerial photographs and associated text information in an easy-to-use software application, usually referred to as a geographic information system or GIS," Dr Rogerson said.

"This innovative desktop application is designed to help exploration geologists, prospectors and the community to create a customised view of geoscientific and other government information on their computer in the office, at home, or in the field."

This program can now be downloaded from DMP's website and provides the ability to view data in a way that does not require specialised skills or costly computer systems.

The data, available from the DMP and other government websites, provides access to WA-specific information on the location and composition of geological formations, unexplored areas, tenement locations and much more.

It also allows integration with other government data such as road networks.

"GeoMap.WA, coupled with DMP's extensive publicly available data collections, provides significant assistance to small exploration companies and individual prospectors," Dr Rogerson said.

In the short time since its release, GeoMap.WA has received significant praise from stakeholders.

Comments from individual prospectors and small exploration companies include:

"I find GeoMap.WA of great help, as I can access data and do research from my home/camp in Skull Creek, on the edge of the Laverton Desert. It's a really big deal, as the tyranny of distance and remoteness no longer applies to people like myself when doing research. I am amazed at the progress in technology…..10 years ago I had to drive 370 kilometres to Kalgoorlie to access the microfiche library every time I wanted to check on old reports – very expensive and time consuming to me. The services provided by DMP through the present systems are fantastic, it gives me incredible opportunities and I am out to make the best of them."

"The suite of applications that constitute GeoMap.WA is truly impressive and is a boon for those involved in mineral exploration and research."

"The information free and online from GSWA definitely makes doing business in WA better. The information and easy availability of open file data is worth millions of dollars per year to the local industry."

"GeoMap.WA is most useful for very quickly compiling an initial map to get you into the field. It is very useful when prospecting on my own."

The development of GeoMap.WA involved extensive stakeholder consultation.

"Suggestions from stakeholders also included the adoption of a global positioning system (GPS) tracking compatibility function," Dr Rogerson said.

"The GPS function enables prospectors to connect to the application through a laptop to their GPS.

"This allows prospectors to see their live location and track their movement on the map or aerial photography, or other spatial data they have already downloaded.

"This function is valuable to those in outback areas who have no other means of identifying their location in often dangerously remote and inhospitable areas."

The GPS function also helps prevent activity infringing on other tenements by identifying live locations in relation to tenement boundaries, thereby reducing the risk of unlawful mining or vegetation clearance.

Discussions have commenced with other government agencies including Landcorp, Western Australia Land Information System (WALIS) and Agriculture on the potential adoption of GeoMap.WA in their own operations.

GeoMap.WA can be downloaded free from GSWA's Data and Software Centre at  http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/datacentre

DMP takes stakeholder engagement tips on board

The Department of Mines and Petroleum has identified a range of improvements it can make to its stakeholder engagement processes after a recent workshop with industry.

The half-day Stakeholder Engagement Workshop was held on April 14 this year and participants included representatives of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, and Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.

The event solicited industry input into the department's approach to external consultation, including two case studies involving Aboriginal Heritage buffer zones and environmental bonds policy.

DMP Director General Richard Sellers said the department had analysed the information gleaned from the workshop and was now looking at rolling out some suggested improvements in its operations.

"The participants offered some valuable insight and I was pleased that most people said we were doing a very good job of consulting on important issues," Mr Sellers said.

"We did however receive some valuable input on areas in which we could make improvements, which is very important for future development.

"Some of the commonsense suggestions we received included tailoring consultation for specific stakeholders and engaging federal government agencies and national resources bodies in our stakeholder engagement.

Mr Sellers said public and industry expectations had shifted considerably in the past decade.

"It is only through this sort of engagement that we can gain better insight in to what those expectations are and to provide the transparency about our approach and processes that is demanded of the public sector these days," he said.

He said the case studies highlighted how DMP's collaboration with external stakeholders had provided good outcomes for industry and the department alike.

Innovation helps improve performance

The Department of Mines and Petroleum has embarked on an ambitious program aimed at promoting collaboration across its business areas to develop a culture of innovation.

The program was officially launched by Director General Richard Sellers on 31 March 2011, consisting of key components including a peer review team and an online portal to capture, discuss and develop ideas to a point of implementation.

The approach is in line with the State Government's Economic Audit Committee Final Report – Putting the Public First, which states: "The public sector's role is to make the structure work, ensuring that there is collaboration across organisational boundaries and that innovation is encouraged within and between agencies."

DMP's new Innovation portal has received more than 40 ideas from DMP staff since it was launched in April.

The portal allows staff to submit ideas that can improve the workplace, business or general wellbeing and lifestyle.

These ideas have been incredibly diverse, ranging from a book exchange and tree planting day, to teleworking and a request for an ATM to be located in Mineral House.

The Innovation Peer Review Team is made up of a diverse range of DMP staff who meet weekly to review all ideas and work with individuals and divisions to help make ideas a reality.

The Innovate program has been designed to provide employees with more opportunity to help shape the department's business and workplace. 

By capturing new, different and easier ways of doing things, DMP is engaging staff and improving business efficiency, developing inter agency innovation partnerships and fostering an innovative culture.

Prior to the launch, DMP worked closely with Landgate, who has been running a successful innovation program for almost three years.

DMP and other collaborative government agencies are now working on establishing a framework for the whole of the Western Australian Public Service through the Public Service Innovation Working Group. 

PDAC attendees gain insight into WA

Two Department of Mines and Petroleum staff members spread word of Western Australian development opportunities at the recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference (PDAC).

Geological Survey of Western Australia Executive Director Rick Rogerson and Manager of Mineral Promotion Gaomai Trench travelled to PDAC in March with Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore and his advisor, Bob Stevens.

The trip included a pre-conference stopover for presentations at the Vancouver Mineral Investment Forum and at a Canada-Australia-NZ Business Association Luncheon before moving on to Toronto for the main event.

Mr Rogerson said the tour provided an excellent opportunity to inform the world's mining industry about the ongoing opportunities for exploration and resource development in Western Australia.

"PDAC alone had more than 27,000 participants from 120 countries and is the biggest event on the global exploration and mining calendar," he said.

"As well as speeches given by the Minister and myself, we had a wealth of geological and resource information on hand for the attendees to take-away.

"Responses to some requests had to wait until we returned to Perth and we have received more inquiries since."

Mr Rogerson said there was significant interest in Western Australia at the events attended.

"Many people wanted to know about exploration and development opportunities for commodities such as iron ore, precious metals, uranium, copper and rare earth elements," he said.

"There was also keen interest in finding out about the current political and investment climate in Australia and obtaining more information on the initiatives we have in place in this state such as the Exploration Incentive Scheme.

"We were very encouraged to speak to some recent graduate geologists from Canada who were very interested in working in DMP."

Mr Rogerson spoke at two events about recent discoveries of minerals such as gold, copper, rare earths, zinc and lithium in Western Australia.

He also provided an insight into the local geology surrounding these important finds.

Upcoming DMP speaking commitments

Recent DMP products and services

REPORT

Report 110 Temporal and hafnium isotopic evolution of the Glenburgh Terrane Basement: an exotic crustal fragment in the Capricorn Orogen by SP Johnson, S Sheppard, MTD Wingate, CL Kirkland, and EA Belousova

RECORDS

2011/5 Late Devonian (Famennian) facies of the outer Lennard Shelf, Canning Basin, Western Australia – a preliminary study by IA Copp

2011/9 CAVEPS Perth 2011 13th Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution Palaeontology and Systematics – Programme Abstracts

2011/6 3D geological model building, and 3D temperature and heat flow calculation for the northern Perth Basin by GeoIntrepid (Louides Enterprises Pty Ltd)

NON-SERIES BOOKS

GSWA Fieldnotes v. 58 April 2011

GSWA guide for authors

GSWA guide for editors

Spelling and other useful stuff

1:100 000 GEOLOGICAL SERIES MAPS

Lockier 1:100 000 Geological Series map

Daurie Creek, WA Sheet 2047, 1:100 000 Geological Series map

ATLAS

Western Australia Atlas of mineral deposits and petroleum fields 2011 by RW Cooper, PB Abeysinghe, and DJ Flint

DATA PACKAGE

State petroleum acreage release 2011

WA Coast – Cape Naturaliste to Lancelin by JR Gozzard

WA Coast – Lancelin to Kalbarri by JR Gozzard

WA Coast – Rottnest by JR Gozzard