Western Australian Mines and Petroleum Minister, Bill Johnston, has announced that specific rate royalties applied to minerals used by the building and construction sector will remain at their current levels and not increase for the next five-years commencing July 1, 2020.
The unchanged rate royalties are Amount A (73 cents), which includes aggregate, clays, dolomite, gravel, gypsum, construction use limestone, rock, (common) salt and sand; and Amount B (117 cents), which includes building stone, chemical use limestone, metallurgical use silica and talc.
Chief Executive Officer of Cement, Concrete & Aggregates Australia (CCAA), Ken Slattery, said the decision recognises the challenges that the construction industry will face as it recovers and followed representations made by the industry.
“The battle against COVID-19 has and continues to be costly, with 100 Australians having lost their lives, large parts of the economy placed in lockdown, and hundreds of thousands of jobs having been lost,” Mr Slattery said.
“As we start to reopen our economy, the Australian construction sector will play a vital role in ensuring we recover from the economic and social impacts of the pandemic.”
“We welcome the Government’s decision, as a positive step towards keeping the cost of essential materials such as concrete, sand and stone down, and reducing the pressure on construction costs for housing and infrastructure for the benefit of the community.”
Mr Slattery further commented that cement concrete and aggregates are a critical part of the construction supply chain in WA.
“In WA, as elsewhere in Australia, our industry mines, manufactures and distributes the products that are essential to those critical building and infrastructure projects that generate employment and build our communities during this crisis and well beyond,” he stated.
“The construction materials our industry provides are locally sourced by produced by companies employing local workers. They are making a major contribution to the local economy now and will continue to do so through the recovery phase.”