West Australian Treasurer Ben Wyatt says he is "quietly optimistic" of being able to convince the gold industry to back his revived royalty hike.
Last month, the opposition and crossbenchers in the upper house blocked the Labor government's plan to lift gold royalty rates from 2.5 to 3.75 per cent to shave $392 million off net debt over four years.
Mr Wyatt revealed last week he was speaking to the industry about adjusting the plan to make it work without significantly affecting marginal mines, after an expensive ad campaign was launched against the initial idea.
"I'm quietly optimistic, but ultimately the upper house will have the final say on this," he said on Monday.
The treasurer says the conversations he's had so far have been open and engaging.
"Whether that translates into support in the upper house I don't yet know, but I think people understand that I'm very much having that conversation in good faith and I hope we can land a position that has the comfort and the understanding of the industry, as well as the upper house of the parliament," he said.
But Opposition Leader Mike Nahan said he would not be so confident or optimistic.
"There's not much scope for him to alter the royalty system to protect marginal mines," he told reporters.
"I'm trying to be constructive here ... if he can concoct an approach that remediates the loss of jobs we will be open to it but until we see it we can't comment."
