It is reported that more than USD 300 billion worth of resources projects are either underway or on the cards in Western Australia.

The WA Department of Mines and Petroleum 2010/11 statistics digest released this week showed that there were USD 138 billion worth of resources projects under construction or in the committed stage of development at the start of September.

The DMP said in the report that a further USD 169 billion worth of planned or possible resources projects were in the pipeline in WA.

The vast majority of the projects involve, unsurprisingly, iron ore and LNG.

So far this financial year, US energy giant Chevron has given the final go-ahead for its USD 29 billion Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project in the state's Pilbara region.

Mr Damian Callachor Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA director said this was a near four-fold increase on a decade ago, when the sector employed 26,500 people in the state.

He said that "That's a massive jump and reflects the number and scale of projects underway in the state."

ABS data this week showed that mineral exploration expenditure in WA in the September quarter rose by 3.8% to USD 448.1 million.

The DMP recently said the value of the state's resource sales for the first time eclipsed USD 100 billion in 2010/11 driven by high prices amid robust demand.

(Sourced from news.ninemsn.com.au)