This Update is early notice of the introduction of the Mining and Petroleum Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 (the Bill) and its scope. We will send through more information on how the changes introduced by the Bill will affect miners, at a later date.

This Bill proposes dramatic changes to the criteria to be applied in state government decisions affecting mining authorities, as well as the interaction between mining and planning laws.

The Bill is introduced against the backdrop of the recent Independent Commission Against Corruption's reports, which proposed amendments to the Mining Act 1992 (NSW), the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (Planning Act) and its regulation as well as the Petroleum (Onshore) Act 1991. This will have implications for all miners.

If commenced, legislation will apply to pending applications.

A high level overview of the Bill

The amendments proposed by the Bill:

  • remove the public interest test as a ground on which certain administrative decisions about mining authorities may be made, and replace it with a test based on whether the applicant or other relevant person is a "fit and proper person"
  • provide that the grant, renewal or transfer of a mining lease can be refused on the ground that the applicant is not a fit and proper person, despite planning approval for integrated development, state significant development, state significant infrastructure, or a Part 3A project under the Planning Act
  • prevent an application for development consent under the Planning Act to mine coal from being made or determined, unless the applicant is the holder of a mining authority for coal on the land
  • make it clear that the public interest can be taken into account in deciding whether or not to approve a transitional Part 3A project under the Planning Act, and
  • standardise provisions dealing with the basis on which administrative functions affecting mining authorities and petroleum titles may be exercised.

Changes are also proposed for petroleum titles.

Implications of the Bill for existing mining operations

The high level implications of the Bill for existing mining operations include:

  • tenement management processes will require review, with applications to be based around the applicant being a fit and proper person
  • early planning for proposed new mining may require review, especially where the practice of a planning approval application preceding a tenement application has been applied
  • public interest (which is a very broad concept) will be increasingly important to the tenement application process, and
  • governance processes will need to ensure detailed review and advice is available to boards and senior management on the Bill's implications for pending applications and proposed new mining (in both tenements and planning approval processes).

The amendments will add another layer of uncertainty to mining and will need careful attention when considering the approval path for mining.

We will issue a further Update, which provides more detailed analysis of the consequences of the amendments.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.