PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian government was seeking industry feedback on a proposed new exploration framework, which Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Marmion said would save explorers time and money.
The Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) had released a consultation paper requesting feedback on the definition of ‘low-impact authorised activities’ on up to 2 ha of land disturbed under certain conditions in certain areas.
“Operations defined as low-impact will be exempt from requiring approvals and will, therefore, not be subject to assessment fees once new legislation being introduced into State Parliament comes into force in early 2016.” Marmion said over the weekend.
Instead, they would be subject to prescribed environmental standards and administered under a notification system.
“As there will be no need for assessment, the tenement holder can start the low-impact activity as soon as the department has been notified,” the Minister said.
Assessment fees for mining proposals and programme of work applications would be introduced from July 1 this year and, when this change occurred, all applications would require assessment no matter how small they were, Marmion said.
“To reduce the impact of these fees, an interim definition of what constitutes a low-impact activity has been set at 0.25 ha. That means about one-quarter of programme of work applications won’t incur an assessment fee. This interim definition will be used until the proposed new definition in the amended legislation takes effect next year.”
The Minister noted that low-impact activities would still be subject to the DMP’s compliance and inspection programme.