It's the campaign with a smiling woman wearing hi-vis as its face and gold at its heart but why does a mineral need marketing?
Heart of Gold has a website, a Twitter account with more than 1500 followers and a Facebook page with more than 4500 likes.
The campaign, launched in August, pushes a message about the positive influence the gold mining industry has on communities in WA as well as the economy.
The group was formed in response to an announcement as part of the 2012/2013 state budget that saw a review into royalty rates and has petitioned the WA government to not increase the current gold royalty rate.
So far the petition has almost 1000 signatories.
Behind the #heartofgold twitter hashtag is the Gold Royalties Response Group, made up of representatives from mining companies and bodies that represent the industry including the Chamber of Minerals and Energy and which are funding the campaign.
Murdoch University's Asia Research Centre fellow, Jeffery Wilson told Fairfax Media that "the fact they [industry representatives] have launched this campaign, is a sign they are anxious about the outcome of the review".
The gold industry has experienced difficulties in the past year since a drop in the gold price.
Mr Wilson said such a public perception campaign like Heart of Gold was a relatively "new form of political lobbying in Australia".
He said that if asked a few years ago if such a campaign could have an impact on a political decision, he would have said "no".
"Once upon a time I'd say, no not much but look at the campaign against coal seam gas in New South Wales, it's almost taken a guerrilla type form, with farmers locking gates to stop drillers coming onto their land," Mr Wilson said.
"Before that campaign I would've said no, it's bargaining between mining companies and the minister but after CSG, I think it shows such a campaign can work to some extent."
Mr Wilson said an increase in the rate of royalties paid from gold production could have an impact on the sector, especially if it was not done gradually.
"If it was implemented overnight, it could reduce the values of gold operations because the values of them are based on what reserves could be worth," he said.
"No company can ever afford to build a mine by itself, it needs to borrow money and that money is based on the value of the asset, devaluing an asset makes a difference to levels and willingness to invest."
Mr Wilson said the campaign would likely be gaining most traction in the WA Goldfields where gold plays a big role in local economies.
"Especially because these areas do not depend on FIFO like the North West, many people live in the area and it is more of a local community," he said.
He said the campaign probably relied a little on romantic ideas associated with gold, such as the prospectors in the gold rush days, rather than simply the size of the impact on the state budget, as gold plays a much smaller role in contributing to the budget than iron ore does.
"Obviously you can see they've tried to play the emotional angle of gold; that it is the "heart" of our state but they can't exactly say it brings in 27 per cent of our states revenue, so they have to fall back on that emotional angle."
Mr Wilson said while this angle would work well with those in the Goldfields it would not resonate with all West Australians as much as a group such as farmers would.
A spokesman for Cannings Purple Communications said the campaign had been funded to the tune of "millions of dollars" contributed by the Gold Royalties Response Group member companies.
Allison Lee, chair of the Public Relations Institute of Australia's Golden Target Awards, was not aware of the campaign but said a budget of millions of dollars was "certainly a huge budget by any standards.
She said few of the 165 entries into the recent GTAs had such large budgets.
"It would be at the top end of any campaign funding levels," Ms Lee said.
General manager of marketing company Louder Online, Aaron Agius said it was a "smart move" to create a separate body to push a message coming from mining companies.
"The words 'heart of gold' are different from what you might hear coming from a mining company," he said.
"People have tall poppy syndrome and think that these companies already earn enough, delivering the message through a different method would likely work well in this case."
