Editorial Policy.

1. Our Role

WA Mining Index operates as an independent information aggregator and directory. We are not:

• a broker, recruiter, or labour-hire agent;
• an investment advisor or financial information service;
• a regulator or auditor of mining operations or service providers;
• a party to any commercial relationship between a directory visitor and a listed business.

We collect publicly available information, organise it into a useful taxonomy, and (where applicable) facilitate introductions between visitors and listed service providers. Beyond that, all commercial relationships are between the parties directly.

2. How We Source Information

Information about mining operations and service providers is sourced from:

• Government databases, primarily MINEDEX (the Western Australian government's official database of mines and mineral deposits), Geoscience Australia, and similar public registries.
• Corporate registries, including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Business Register (ABR).
• Publicly available business websites, including company About pages, services pages, and contact pages.
• Public industry publications, trade news, and announcements made by listed companies.
• Information submitted by listed businesses themselves, either to correct existing entries, request inclusion, or update details. Submitted information is reviewed before being published.

We do not maintain a database of individual employees' personal contact details for commercial sale. The Platform focuses on business-level information.

3. How We Organise and Rank Listings

Organic listings

Organic (unpaid) listings are organised by editorial and algorithmic criteria, including:

• Relevance to the search or category (services provided, region of operation, commodity).
• Completeness and verifiability of public information about the business.
• Recency of public information (more recently confirmed listings rank higher).
• Operational status, where this is publicly known.
• Alphabetical or geographic ordering as a secondary tie-breaker.

Organic ranking is not influenced by whether a business is, or has been, a paying customer of WA Mining Index. A free Basic Listing — the unpaid supplier profile described on our Get Listed page — is an organic listing: it is searchable in the directory but is not given paid placement on the hub pages. A provider can stop paying and lose its Verified status without losing its organic listing.

Verified Listings (paid placements)

Suppliers and service providers can pay WA Mining Index for a Verified Listing. A Verified Listing is a paid placement, and we label it as such wherever it appears. It can include:

• Placement in the verified-provider module on the service × region hub pages a provider covers — capped at three providers per page and clearly marked as a paid placement.
• A "TRUSTED" badge on the provider's profile (see below for what we verify).
• Expanded profile content — logo, longer description, regions serviced, a link and a call-to-action.
• Editorial backlinks from related mine pages, and indexing so the profile can be found by search engines and AI.

The "TRUSTED" badge is not an editorial endorsement bought with a fee. It means we have confirmed the provider's ABN, a current insurance certificate and at least one client reference. The badge sits on a paid tier, but it certifies those specific checks — nothing more — and we do not award it without them.

More generally, any paid content on the Platform — now or in future, including any sponsored article or advertisement we may run — is clearly labelled as "Verified", "Sponsored", "Advertisement", or an equivalent disclosure. We follow ACCC guidance on native advertising: paid content must be clearly distinguishable from editorial content. If a disclosure is missing, unclear, or visually subordinate to the content, please report it via the Contact page and we will correct it.

4. Lead Forwarding and Referrals

Visitors can submit enquiries to specific service providers through contact forms on the Platform.

• When you submit an enquiry, the form will indicate which provider (or which set of providers) will receive it.
• Your enquiry is forwarded to that provider so they can respond to you directly.
• Your enquiry is not shared with other service providers without your explicit consent.

Routed enquiries are a feature of the paid Verified Listing, included as part of a flat subscription. We do not charge providers per lead, we do not take a commission on any work that results, and we do not resell enquiry data. The commercial arrangement does not change how your enquiry is handled — it goes to the provider you contacted, and to no one else.

We do not currently operate affiliate or referral-fee arrangements with third parties. If we ever introduce one — for example, a referral fee from an equipment supplier — we will disclose it clearly on the page where the recommendation appears, in line with this policy.

5. Editorial Independence

Paid relationships do not influence:

• Factual information about mining operations (project status, commodity, operator, location).
• Organic listings of competing service providers.
• Editorial content, comparisons, or analysis published on the Platform.
• The structure of the directory or its taxonomy.

Paid relationships do influence:

• Whether a business appears in the verified-provider module on the service × region hub pages it covers, and the visual treatment and "TRUSTED" badge that come with that placement.
• The breadth of profile content the business can display.
• Whether the business receives enquiries routed from the hub pages it covers — a Verified Listing feature.

These influences are always disclosed at the point where they apply.

6. Corrections and Removals

If you believe a listing is inaccurate

Mining sector information changes rapidly. If you spot an error on a listing — incorrect operator, outdated status, wrong commodity, incorrect coordinates — please report it via the Contact page. We aim to review and action verified corrections within 5 business days.

If you are an authorised representative of a listed business

You may request:

• Correction of factual information about your business.
• Update of your business profile, services, or contact details.
• Removal of your business listing from the Platform.

Use our automated portal at waminingindex.com.au/opt-out or contact us directly. Verified requests are actioned within 5 business days.

If you are concerned about a paid placement

If you believe a Verified Listing or any other paid placement is not clearly disclosed, or that the content of a paid placement is misleading, please contact us. We will review and, where appropriate, require the paying business to amend or remove the content.

7. Conflicts of Interest

WA Mining Index is operated by a small team. To maintain editorial integrity, we disclose:

• Any direct equity, ownership, or board relationship between WA Mining Index personnel and a listed business (currently: none).
• Any service contracts in which WA Mining Index personnel provide consulting, marketing, or other services to a listed business outside the directory itself — such relationships, if they arise, are disclosed on the listings concerned.
• Any in-kind arrangements (free product, free services, hosted site visits) — if WA Mining Index covers a listed business in editorial content following such an arrangement, the relationship is disclosed.

8. Lead Quality and Verification

Where enquiries are routed to providers with a Verified Listing, WA Mining Index:

• Does not fabricate, generate, or simulate enquiries.
• Forwards only enquiries that originated from genuine third-party visitors using the Platform's contact forms.
• Does not guarantee that any specific lead will convert to a commercial outcome — qualification, follow-up, and conversion are the responsibility of the receiving service provider.

Paying service providers are bound by the Verified Listing Terms regarding lead use, response timeframes, and acceptable use of contact information.

9. Use of AI and Automation

Parts of the Platform are produced with the assistance of automation, including:

• Automated retrieval and indexing of public government data.
• Templated page generation for categories, regions, and service intersections.
• Automated or AI-assisted drafting of descriptive content, which is reviewed and edited by a human before publication.

We do not use automation to fabricate operational data, commodity classifications, coordinates, or business attributes. Factual information is sourced from the references described in Section 2.

10. Complaints

If you have a complaint about the content of the Platform, the disclosure of a paid placement, or any other editorial matter:

• Contact us via the Contact page.
• We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 business days and aim to resolve it within 30 days.
• If the complaint relates to misleading or deceptive conduct under the Australian Consumer Law, you also have the right to contact the ACCC at www.accc.gov.au.
• If the complaint relates to handling of your personal information, please refer to our Privacy Policy for the complaints process and your right to contact the OAIC.

11. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Editorial Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, the services we offer, or applicable law. Material changes will be flagged on the Platform. The "Last updated" date at the top of this policy reflects the most recent revision.

For questions about this Editorial Policy, or to report a disclosure or accuracy issue, please contact us via waminingindex.com.au/contact.