Revising the Extractive Industries Regulations
Commencing the consultation process, the CMPA has recently made a submission to the DPI on the Extractive Industry Regulations discussion paper. Below is a summary of the proposed changes.
TO coincide with the legislative changes that will occur as a result of the merging of the Acts, the existing Regulations that apply to the extractive industries will be amended and remade under the MRSDA. The new Regulations are not intended to significantly add to or change the regulatory requirements, beyond changes that will occur as a result of the merging Acts, other than to consider some streamlining of the manner in which information is submitted for royalties and annual returns and implement new notification and reporting requirements.
WORK PLANS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Many smaller sites will no longer submit a Work Plan but will instead comply with standard requirements set out in a Code of Practice. For those sites still required to submit a Work Plan, the Work Plan information in the new Regulations must be submitted which will include a community engagement plan.
SUBMISSION OF ROYALTIES INFORMATION
While there was no change to the actual royalty rates, there is scope to reduce the regulatory burden in relation to the manner in which royalties payments and information are submitted. Royalties are currently payable on either a six-month or annual basis and must be accompanied by a completed form and statutory declaration. A production/sales return and statutory return must also be submitted, separately, one a year. It is proposed that the payment period should only be 12 months and that a single form, containing royalties information, annual returns information and a statutory declaration be submitted annually with the royalties payment.
PENALTIES FOR INFRINGEMENT OFFENCES
Most of the current infringement offences will increase from five penalty units to 10 penalty units. At current rate, this represents a change of $567.10 to $1,134.20.
NOTIFICATION
All mines and quarries will be required to notify DPI of any incidents or symptoms that have caused, or have the potential to cause, moderate to catastrophic environment, public safety or infrastructure consequences. Further consultation will be undertaken on what constitutes a reportable event.
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
If a mine or quarry was declared as posing a significant risk to the environment, public safety or infrastructure they would be subject to additional risk assessment, management and reporting requirements.
The CMPA recently made a submission to the DPI discussion paper on this matter which will shortly be available on the CMPA website.
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