Unions and farming groups in Western Australia say it is time to take a hard look at a scheme which provides drilling funding to mining companies.

Established under the Royalties For Regions program, the Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) cost more than $100 million.

Half of that money went to co-funding exploration drilling.

Large mining companies with big market capitalisation are among those that benefited including Iluka Resources, Hancock Prospecting, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines, Anglo American and Northern Star.

Traditional supporters of Royalties For Regions questioned the outlays.

Farmers Federation president Dale Park said the funds should only have been provided for projects that would not have occurred without it.

"You have to go back to look at the origin of Royalties for Regions which really was ... money that's going to go back into the regions, being spent in places where hospitals, exploration, buildings, whatever wasn't going to happen without it," he said.

"One of the undertakings that was made was that Royalties for Regions wouldn't be spent on areas where central funding would normally have paid for those things.

"If it would've gone ahead, I think we need to question whether that was money well spent or not."

Helping a large company to be 'a bit more profitable'?

Mr Park said careful thought had to be given before providing drilling funding to miners.

"You have to be pretty hard-headed about this," he said.

"Are we facilitating a new project or we just helping a large company make it a bit more profitable?"

The funding source for the exploration scheme changed this year.

It was paid for under Royalties for Regions until the end of June but now it comes out of state revenue.

Official and unofficial websites and other information online is yet to be updated on this point.

Whatever the specific source, it is still a publicly-funded scheme and the Government said it is good value because it generates jobs, and gains new geological information.

The $100 million spent so far included $50 million for drilling while the rest went on Department of Mines and Petroleum geological mapping, geophysical and geochemical surveys and improvements to client processing via online initiatives.

Nurses want funding to go to local facilities

But the Australian Nursing Federation, which also supports the Royalties for Regions program, questions whether drilling programs should be subsidised at all.

The federation's state secretary Mark Olson said the amounts being talked about are high.

"I think the Government needs to have a careful look at where this money is going, particularly in the current economic climate, with tens of millions of dollars, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars going to big mining companies," he said.

"I think communities have a right to be asking why isn't this money being put into local facilities?"

Mr Olson zeroed in on the $100 million spent so far and said there should have been more funding committed to regional housing, particularly for nurses.

"That's almost a whole hospital," he said.

"When you're talking about $100 million, it pretty well solves your housing problem right across the board in one fell swoop.

"We know that the Pilbara has some challenges in providing quality housing and all around those areas, you don't have to look too far in country WA to find housing that is substandard that's provided to health professionals."

Mr Olson said while governments have been supportive in improving the provision of accommodation over the past 20 years, a lot more needed to be done.

"We know in places like Kalgoorlie housing is a huge issue for the attraction and retention of staff," he said.

"So I find it difficult to believe that large mining companies can get money from the Government for doing what they would do normally when hospitals like Kalgoorlie Regional are struggling constantly year after year to find the money to get decent houses for the staff."

Forty one companies are listed as being successful in the EIS co-funded drilling round for round for 2015.