Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
People under 18 can no longer hold a small-scale mining licence.
The Mining Secretary can collect and use personal information to manage small-scale licences. The Mining Secretary can also share information about people applying for land entry permits with the landholders.
Landholders can get compensation for losses caused by the granting of a small-scale mining licence. The Land and Environment Court can award extra compensation if there are exceptional circumstances.
People can be fined up to 50 penalty units (2026: $5,500) or jailed for 6 months for entering another person's mineral claim area without a good reason. If they are carrying mining tools or equipment, they can be fined up to 100 penalty units (2026: $11,000) or jailed for 2 years.
A court can ban a person from entering certain mineral areas if they are convicted of specific mining offences. If a person knowingly breaks this ban, they can be fined up to 200 penalty units (2026: $22,000) or jailed for 2 years.
Assaulting, threatening, intimidating, or obstructing people who are legally entering land for mining is a crime.
The Mining Secretary can ban people from applying for mineral claims over specific areas of land by publishing a notice in the Gazette.
Landholders can object to a mineral claim application if they believe the land is used for farming.
People applying for a mineral claim cannot include a person's main home or the land within 200 metres of it in the licence area without written consent.
Small-scale licence holders are banned from grazing horses, felling trees, stripping bark, or cutting timber on the land without the landholder's consent. They also cannot remove rock or earth unless it is for mining or prospecting.
Small-scale licence holders must install and maintain gates and grids where their access paths cross fences, or they can be fined up to 50 penalty units (2026: $5,500).
Small-scale licence holders are allowed a right of way between their licence area and a public road.
The Mining Secretary can create access management plans to regulate how miners enter land if the miner and landholder cannot agree on a plan themselves.
The Mining Secretary can cancel a mining authority if the land is needed for a public purpose, or if the holder becomes insolvent, dies, or is incapacitated.
The Land and Environment Court's powers are expanded to resolve disputes about the validity, granting, renewal, transfer, or cancellation of mining authorities and small-scale licences.
People have 3 months to start legal proceedings to challenge the Mining Secretary's decisions to grant, refuse, renew, transfer, or cancel small-scale licences and mineral claims.
The Mining Secretary can investigate whether a person is 'fit and proper' to hold a licence. If a person refuses to provide requested information, they may be declared not fit and proper.
Mining authority holders must not unreasonably block a landholder's access to water for livestock or water drainage.