JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Growth is back on the agenda for Western Australian companies as leaders sharpen their focus on innovation, following a drive to achieve operational efficiencies and reduced costs, advisory firm Deloitte said on Monday.

In the past financial year, the value of Western Australia-based listed companies has grown by 1.8%, closing at A$134.5-billion – an upturn from last year, when the index shed 11.6%, driven by an overall slowdown in the region’s mining sector and unfavourable movements in commodity prices, despite the listing of base metal and coal mining company South32. 

Releasing a special edition of its Western Australia Index at the Diggers and Dealers Forum, in Kalgoorlie, this week, Deloitte clients and markets partner Tim Richards said the strong increase in lithium and gold prices contributed to this growth.

“The success of lithium miners has been matched only by the luster of the region’s established gold sector, with lithium and gold companies among the top three movers in terms of market capitalisation growth,” he added.

Further, Richards said that lithium was “clearly the surprise package” for 2016. “We have seen a price increase of more than 200% as excitement continues to build around the potential for lithium batteries within electric vehicles and general power storage devices.

“While these results demonstrate early signs of recovery in the resources sector, we expect the next wave of growth and productivity to be driven by an investment in truly transformative innovation, which extends beyond the recent focus on cost reduction and operational efficiency,” he noted.

Gold and silver confirmed their status as safe-haven assets in what proved to be another volatile year for global commodities. “The heightened economic and political uncertainty from Brexit and the upcoming US election saw gold prices increase strongly,” he pointed out, adding that the commodities were the stand-out performers, showing substantial price increases of 13% and 18% during the year.

These safe-haven assets offered “much needed upside opportunities” for Australian investor portfolios and the gold price also benefited from global institutions increasing their allocation of gold within their portfolios during the year.