Chamber of Minerals and Energy seek South West opinion

A survey of South West residents will help the mining industry better communicate with the community, according to Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA regional manager Erin van Noort.

The chamber has engaged the CSIRO to conduct the survey which will gauge the community’s attitudes towards mining.

Ms van Noort said the chamber was keen to understand if there were gaps in the community’s understanding about operations happening on its doorstep.

“This is not about a particular project, but about the regional resources industry generally,” she said.

“This will help to inform our communications and the areas we may need to focus on.”

She said while chamber members communicated within their own communities, the survey would seek to paint an overall picture of the region’s attitudes.

“Understanding the sentiments and opinions of the resources sector isn’t a new initiative, it’s something the chamber has done a number of times in the past,” she said.

“There are a lot of positive things from an economic sense with expansions and new projects getting started.

“This also brings challenges that need to be managed, we’re keen to learn the communities’ understanding around the issues that impact existing and expanding industry.”

The comprehensive survey will cover various issues that can impact operations including questions about environmental regulation, the various commodities being mines and how the community looks to keep informed about the sector.

For every survey completed community members can assign tokens to not-for-profit groups and the CSIRO will then make a cash donation.

“We want to encourage as many people as possible to have their voice heard, that’s why we engaged CSIRO to conduct this survey,” Ms van Noort said.

To register your not-for-profit group for rewards, or to register your interest in participating in the survey, go to https://research.csiro.au/southwestlocalvoices/.

The survey is open until April 14.