Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I was in the Goldfields when the twin city Kalgoorlie-Boulder celebrated a historic milestone—the 125th anniversary of the discovery of gold. In June 1893, Paddy Hannan and Thomas Flanagan discovered the first alluvial gold on the slopes of Mount Charlotte. Later joined by Dan Shea, they searched and uncovered 100 ounces of gold within a short period of time. Paddy's reward claim was pegged, and he rode the 30 miles to Coolgardie to the warden's office. This started a gold rush that would eventually lead to the discovery of the richest gold find in Australia's history: the Golden Mile. Today, 125 years on, this find is still one of the world's biggest producers of gold and has produced over 60 million ounces of gold in just over a century.

Last week, the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society hosted a Revisit Hannan's Reward Claim public event during which local historian Scott Wilson recounted the historical details of these discoveries and KCGM general manager, Cecile Thaxter, acknowledged the legacy they have inherited. This event opened the First Wealth Of Nations Mining Heritage Conference, with international history and mining buffs featuring on the speakers and guests list. That evening the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder hosted a gala anniversary ball, which many attended in full period dress to commemorate this auspicious occasion.

But the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is not only celebrating the past; it's looking to the future. The region currently produces more than $8 billion in mineral exports per annum. There are 108 operating mines and nearly 700 prospective mines across the economic zone. While gold has always been the hallmark of the goldfields, lithium is the new gold, and this region is leading the world in producing and processing this resource. WA produces more than half of the world's raw lithium. Two years ago the only mine was the Talison Lithium mine in Greenbushes in the south-west of my electorate of O'Connor. Last year, Galaxy Resources resumed exporting from Ravensthorpe, and the Ganfeng Neometals mineral resources consortium began shipping lithium from the Mount Marion mine. In more good news, Neometals CEO, Chris Reed, announced an optional agreement to sublease a 40 hectare site in Kalgoorlie for a proposed lithium hydroxide refinery. Meanwhile, Tawana Resources commenced lithium production at Bald Hill near Kambalda and shipped its first concentrate earlier this month

It was fantastic to have the opportunity to showcase some of these incredible Goldfields mining success stories to the federal minister for resources, Senator Matt Canavan, when he visited the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Thursday of last week. We kicked off the day with a tour of the 115-year-old Western Australian School of Mines, which is ranked second in the world as a university of mining excellence. WASM Alumni president, Raleigh Finlayson, and former alumni president, Bill Beament, joined Professor Vishnu Pareek and Associate Professor Richard Browner in proudly showcasing some of their advanced technologies. We discussed some of the issues of looming labour force shortages as a consequence of reduced student enrolments. Four years ago, enrolments stood at more than 100 but this year fell to less than 20. The Western Australian School of Mines has large and prestigious alumni, many of whom are major players in the global resources industry. I will be working with the minister to see its numbers restored to meet the ever-increasing demand for graduates in surveying, engineering and metallurgy.

Next we drove out to Mount Marion with Mineral Resources' general manager of external affairs and someone well known to people in this place, former federal minister for resources and energy Gary Gray and were shown around their open-cut lithium mine. Minister Canavan and I had the thrill of detonating a blast and watching the crushing and extraction process through to the finished product.

Back in the heart of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, we visited the KCGM super pit, hosted by general manager Cecile Thaxter. The immense scale of this open-cut mine was not lost on the minister, and the historic significance of the scores of old shafts in the ore face were evidence of over a century of underground mining. Cecile revealed that if you laid all the shafts end to end they would reach right across Australia. At MLG Oz, the minister was hosted by Murray Leahy, retiring head of Ausdrill and industry legend, Ron Sayers, and other drillers and contractors to discuss workforce shortages across the Goldfields.

Finally, we dropped into the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia to meet Executive Officer Rowena Olsen, Chair John Malone and the eastern zone committee. The Kalgoorlie-Boulder CME was formed 117 years ago and now houses the new Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mining Innovation Hub, whose director, Sabine 'the Miner' Shugg, is also a Western Australian School of Mining alumna.

WA is renowned for its mining industry, and the headline projects are the massive Pilbara iron ore natural gas deposits. But the WA mining industry was conceived in the Goldfields 125 years ago and the Golden Mile remains its heart and soul. It was my absolute pleasure to introduce the minister for the first time to the historic WA Goldfields on such a momentous occasion as the 125th anniversary.

House adjourned at 20:00

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Buchholz ) took the chair at 10:30.

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