The Mining Amendment Bill is the Liberal Government’s continuation of the changes proposed by the previous Government under the Statutes Amendment (Leading Practice in Mining) Bill 2017 (“Previous Bill”).
A number of the changes proposed by the Previous Bill are continued under the Mining Amendment Bill, however, the following are some key differences.
The definition of “Exempt Land” will remain as is and not be re-named “Restricted Land”.
In addition to reinstating an expired tenement, the Minister can also prevent the expiry of the tenement by extending the term if necessary to ensure environmental compliance and rehabilitation of the land, including with respect to Native Title Land. The reinstating of an expired tenement will not trigger a further right to negotiate under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).
Exploration licences will transition to a 6 year term with a maximum term of 18 years, however, rather than being deemed to have a 6 year term (under the Previous Bill), when applying for a renewal the explorer will apply for a renewal under the new section for the 6 year term.
Cowell Clarke regularly provides advice to clients in respect of their obligations under the Mining Act 1971 (SA) and will be monitoring these changes closely.