{"id":874752,"date":"2026-08-31T07:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T07:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874752\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T07:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T07:30:25","slug":"gold-price-driving-unprecedented-demand-wa-drilling-contractor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874752\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold price driving ‘unprecedented demand’, WA drilling contractor says"},"content":{"rendered":"

A gold rush is being reflected in figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that show $1.57 billion spent on exploration in Western Australia alone.<\/p>\n

It comes after the Australian dollar gold price hit an all-time high of $7,688\/oz in January. Earlier today it was trading at $6,236\/oz.<\/p>\n

The figure represents a decent increase on the 24\/25 financial year of $1.03 billion.<\/p>\n

In WA’s gold heartland, one drilling company in particular is experiencing “unprecedented demand” amid an ongoing boom in mineral exploration.<\/p>\n

The fortunes of the Kalgoorlie-based Topdrill have risen alongside metal prices and today it ranks among Australia’s biggest drilling contractors, with more than 550 workers on its payroll.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tim Topham hates the word “boom”, but there’s no doubt about the level of demand. (Supplied: Topdrill)<\/p>\n

Founder Tim Topham, who started 20 years ago with a single drill rig and two employees, is set to take delivery of a 43rd drill rig in coming weeks.<\/p>\n

“We’re seeing the flow-on effects of Trump’s behaviours and the gold price boom \u2014 it’s something that’s very real,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I hate the word ‘boom’, but this period of buoyancy has been really elevated. It’s a pretty exciting time.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Signs pointing to the location of a working drill rig are a constant reminder of increased exploration activity in the Goldfields. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)<\/p>\n

Working through holidays<\/p>\n

The ABS data shows the bulk of Australia’s investment in mineral exploration is being directed towards gold, with $1.93 billion out of a total of $4.27 billion dedicated to the search in the 2025-26 financial year.<\/p>\n

In WA gold represented $1.57 billion of its total $2.99 billion spend on mineral exploration, including a record $461.1 million spent on exploration in the June quarter.<\/p>\n

Mr Topham said gold exploration accounted for 95 per cent of Topdrill’s workload.<\/p>\n

\"Men<\/p>\n

A crew of exploration drillers after working on a hole in WA’s Murchison that reached a depth of more than a kilometre. (Supplied: Topdrill)<\/p>\n

“This is a period of unprecedented demand,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Historically there would be no work over the Christmas period and you would start to wind back into it by about February.<\/p>\n

“The last two to three years we’ve seen a total change in that behaviour, so now we’re drilling right through Christmas and New Year.”<\/p>\n

Impact of tax changes<\/p>\n

While the expenditure figures show exploration is booming, the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) is concerned about proposed reforms to capital gains tax.<\/p>\n

AMEC chief executive Warren Pearce said the federal government’s changes would see more investment flow overseas and greenfields exploration in Australia “dry up”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Warren Pearce is concerned about capital gains tax changes impacting investment in the exploration sector. (ABC News: Phil Hemingway)<\/p>\n

He said the sector relied heavily on retail investors and that when companies needed to raise capital again the investors would not be there.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Madeleine King says the government has invested heavily in the industry. (ABC News: Kimberley Putland)<\/p>\n

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King said the government had invested heavily in Geoscience Australia and critical minerals.<\/p>\n

“I would say no government in Australia has ever done more for the resources sector \u2026 I think exploration is in a very good space in Australia,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Drill rig offsider Adrian Parise working in bushland near Widgiemooltha in WA’s Goldfields. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)<\/p>\n

When times are tough<\/p>\n

Exploration is booming now, but business owners such as Mr Topham have one eye on the present and the other on the horizon.<\/p>\n

In the past, Topdrill has agreed to work for shares instead of cash under what are known as drilling-for-equity arrangements.<\/p>\n

It can be incredibly lucrative if a discovery is made, but that is not the only reason Topdrill will accept shares in a company instead of cash.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A drill rig tests for gold about 25km east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)<\/p>\n

“It’s a tool we’ve engaged with to keep our rigs busy when the market has changed,” Mr Topham said.<\/p>\n

“The traditional model is to lay staff off in those tougher times, so drilling-for-equity has been an important to keep the rigs spinning and we’ve been involved in some great discoveries through that initiative.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A gold rush is being reflected in figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3131,190476,64,63,169,99,444072,86554,444071,444073,444069,444070,45],"class_list":["post-874752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-abs","tag-amec","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-bureau-of-statistics","tag-business","tag-gold-exploration-australia","tag-gold-price","tag-gold-rush-wa","tag-mineral-exploration-australia","tag-tim-topham","tag-topdrill","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}