An exploration tenement has been granted to Thomas Wenman (local prospector and author) and co. in an area under 10 kilometres south-east of the Margaret River town site.

Tom already takes tours into the area to try and find nuggets of gold on the ground, and has been with someone who has been fortunate enough to find a nugget. He believes the site could be one of the biggest deposits of minerals in the south-west.

Cr Ian Earl is the Shire President of the Augusta-Margaret River Shire and he thinks any prospects of mining around the tourist destination would be met with vigorous protest.