Mining Act 1992

The holder of a prospecting title may, by written notice served on each landholder of the land concerned, give notice of the holder’s intention to obtain an access arrangement in respect of the land.

The notice of the holder’s intention to obtain an access arrangement must, in addition to stating the holder’s intention, contain—

a plan and description of the area of land over which the access is sought sufficient to enable the ready identification of that area, and

a description of the prospecting methods intended to be used in that area.

The holder of the prospecting title must pay the reasonable costs of the landholder of the land concerned in participating in negotiating the access arrangement.

The maximum amount of reasonable costs payable by the holder of the prospecting title is the amount set out by the Minister by order published in the Gazette.

In making the order, the Minister must have regard to the following—

time spent participating in negotiating the access arrangement,

legal costs of negotiating the access arrangement,

costs of engaging experts as part of the negotiation process.

Nothing in this section prevents a holder of a prospecting title, at the holder’s discretion, paying other amounts to a landholder.

An order relating to costs may—

apply generally or be limited in its application by reference to specified exceptions or factors, or

apply differently according to different factors of a specified kind, or

authorise any matter or thing to be from time to time determined, applied or regulated by any specified person or body,

or may do any combination of those things.

The regulations may make provision for or with respect to the payment of costs under this section, including, but not limited to, the following—

the timing or frequency of payments,

evidence of costs incurred to be provided to the holder of the prospecting title.

The holder of a prospecting title and the landholder of the land concerned must negotiate on an access arrangement in good faith.

The holder of a prospecting title and a landholder of the land concerned may agree in writing (either before or after the prospecting title is granted) on an access arrangement.

If some but not all of the landholders of any particular land have agreed to an access arrangement, a reference in sections 143–156 to each landholder of the land or to a party to the hearing before an arbitrator does not include a reference to any of those landholders who has agreed to an access arrangement. However, the arbitrator may allow a landholder who has agreed to an access arrangement to become a party to the hearing of the matter in order to ensure consistency in the access arrangements over the same land, and may, for that purpose, replace the agreed access arrangement with the access arrangement determined by the arbitrator.

In this section, a reference to the holder of a prospecting title includes a reference to the proposed holder of a prospecting title.