Located in the far north of Western Australia, the West Kimberley region includes the coastal towns of Broome and Derby and their hinterlands.

Federal resources minister Ian Macfarlane said the study highlighted the huge potential for resource development of the West Kimberley, especially the Browse Basin gas fields.

Woodside is moving to develop a major new LNG hub in the Browse that will probably be serviced from Broome, but it has said development of the Pluto discovery in the North West Shelf region is a higher priority.

As well as major gas reserves, the West Kimberley region held onshore petroleum, bauxite resources that were significant by world standards, and sizeable deposits of other mineral and energy sources such as diamonds, iron ore, zinc, uranium and coal, Macfarlane said.

“Development of the gas fields would stimulate not only development of the significant mineral wealth of the region but also downstream processing,” he said.

“This would create enormous economic and social development opportunities on a local, state and national level.”

But development was being held back by the region’s remoteness, small population and underdeveloped infrastructure.

“Any large projects will require major new investment in both hard and soft infrastructure, such as road, port, power, water and telecommunications facilities,” he said.

The study found that resource development would ultimately be dictated by:

• the market for the West Kimberley’s commodities;

• continued exploration success for zinc and diamonds;

• cooperative arrangements with traditional owners regarding land access; and

• the economics of project development.

“The Australian Government will continue to work with the West Australian Government and industry groups in the region to ensure the West Kimberley benefits from realising the huge potential of its mining and mineral processing industries,” Macfarlane said.

Developing the West Kimberley’s Resources is a product of the Australian government’s Regional Minerals Program.

The study can be found at: www.industry.gov.au/regionalminerals