PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian government is considering changes to the Mining Act to clear up uncertainty around the grant of mining leases.

The move comes after mining personality Andrew Forrest in August won a High Court bid preventing two junior sand miners from gaining access to his family pastoral property, despite the two companies having been granted mining licences.

The licences were granted before the two juniors lodged some key reports with the Department of Mines and Petroleum, which is currently standard procedure in Western Australia.

Forrest successfully argued that the key reports, which included a mineralisation report, were required to be filed at the time of lodgment.

The High Court’s ruling applies only to mining lease applications after 2006.  The provisions requiring a mineralisation report to be lodged with a mining lease application started in February 2006.

Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston said on Tuesday that the state government was examining legislative solutions to provide assurances to the mining industry, following the High Court decision.

“The High Court found the process of granting mining lease applications was flawed,” he said.

The Minister pointed out that the current Mining Act required a mining lease application to be accompanied by either a mining proposal or a mineralisation report, adding that in this case, both applicants lodged mineralisation reports after the mining lease applications were lodged, but before the applications were considered.

Johnston also said that no interested party was disadvantaged by allowing the documents in question to be lodged separately. He added, though, that the High Court ruling had created uncertainty about existing mining tenements that might have been granted under a similar process since 2006.

“The High Court decision has created uncertainty among the mining industry, especially regarding the security of tenure for major iron-ore and gold projects.

“I can assure the industry we're taking this matter very seriously,” Johnston said.

“The state government is acting swiftly to ensure certainty and security for mining operations.”

The Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) said that retrospective legislation to address the High Court decision was critical in providing certainty to the industry.

“Security of tenure is a fundamental principle of the Mining Act and the High Court has cast enough doubt to make such a legislative fix necessary,” CME acting CEO Nicole Roocke said.

“Once drafted, CME will be encouraging the Parliament to consider this legislation as a matter of highest priority and for it to proceed with bi-partisan support.”

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (Amec) acting CEO Graham Short added that the High Court decision had opened the door to granted mining leases being found invalid as a result of a flaw in the underlying application, where tenement holders could have failed to provide a mineralisation report at the time of the application.

“It is imperative that the government acts quickly to remove the uncertainty that exists for tenement holders that may be unintentionally noncompliant with the Mining Act,” Short said.

“When taking remedial action Amec has recommended that the government should also give consideration to amending the Mining Act to provide an extension of time of 14 days to lodge supporting statements.

“Industry appreciates the government’s swift action to restore some confidence, which will also require urgent passage of amending legislation through Parliament,” Short said.