Apply for a mining lease

You will need to nominate a proposed term for your mining lease. The maximum term allowed is 21 years under section 71 of the Mining Act 1992. 

In NSW, most minerals are publicly owned by the state, even when the minerals are on private land. 

Minerals are only privately owned in some cases. While each case will be unique, private mineral ownership may apply where the original grant of land conveyed ownership of minerals to the grantee and the State has not subsequently taken ownership of the mineral.

Mining (mineral owner) leases are treated slightly differently from State-owned minerals in relation to royalties.

If you are the owner of privately-owned minerals, you can apply for a mining (mineral owner) lease over your land.  If there is more than one owner of the privately owned minerals, the application for a mining (mineral owner) lease must be made by all owners.

You will need to provide evidence of your private ownership of the minerals. Evidence of ownership includes providing copies of land grants and searches indicating that the minerals are privately owned by you. 

For the purposes of confirming your ownership of any mineral, you will need to provide supporting information. This may include written advice from an Australian legal practitioner certifying that the relevant evidence establishes that you own the minerals.

If you are the owner of privately owned minerals, you cannot apply for a mining (mineral owner) lease for your particular land if the following has occurred within the past 2 years, unless you have the Minister's consent:

• If your application to grant or renew a ‘mineral owner authority’ in relation to that land, was refused, or
• If you were the holder of a ‘mineral owner authority’ in relation to that land that was cancelled.

A mineral owner authority includes an exploration (mineral owner) licence, an assessment (mineral owner) lease or mining (mineral owner) lease.

If you apply for a mining (mineral owner) lease within 2 years after a refusal or cancellation, you will require the Minister's consent before lodging the application. This is a requirement under section 51B of the Mining Act 1992.   

To find out how to request the Minister’s consent, please email titles@dpird.nsw.gov.au.

You will need to nominate the purpose of the mining lease being either a mining lease for minerals, or a mining lease for ancillary mining activities only. 

Mining lease for minerals

A mining lease for minerals allows you to undertake mining, ancillary mining activities and prospecting over the lease area. 

If you are applying for a mining lease for minerals, you will need to specify the minerals to be mined. Details of the minerals are in Schedule 1 of the Mining Regulation 2016. 

All ancillary mining activities are permitted on a mining lease for minerals and do not need to be specified. For a full list of prescribed ancillary mining activities, refer to clause 7 of the Mining Regulation 2016.

Mining lease for ancillary mining activities only

A mining lease for ancillary mining activities (AMA) only allows you to undertake the specified AMA.  It provides  no rights to extract of minerals. 

A mining lease for AMA only can only be granted if it is in the vicinity of and directly facilitates a mining lease for minerals.

Ancillary mining activities are activities and infrastructure activities associated with mining, including:

• Any building or mining plant, road, railway, reservoir, dams, drains.
• The removal, stockpiling, management or depositing of overburden, ore or tailings. 
• Storage of fuel, timber, machinery or equipment.
• Generation and transmission of electricity. 
• Any drill hole or shaft.

For a full list of prescribed ancillary mining activities, refer to clause 7 of the Mining Regulation 2016.

A sub-category of AMAs is defined in section 6 of the Mining Act 1992 as ‘designated AMAs’ and includes:

• The construction, maintenance, or use, in or in connection with mining operations, of a reservoir, dam (including a tailings dam), drain or water race.
• The removal, stockpiling or depositing of overburden, ore or tailings to the extent that it is associated with mineral extraction or mineral beneficiation.

Designated AMAs must be authorised by a mining lease or carried out in accordance with an AMA condition that regulates the carrying out of the activity outside the lease area. 

The carrying out of AMAs that are not designated do not require authorisation under a mining lease. 

If you are applying for a mining lease for AMA, you will be required to list all ancillary mining activities being undertaken within the proposed lease area. 

Additionally, you must identify the associated mining lease/s for minerals that are being facilitated by the AMAs. A scaled plan must also be provided that shows the relative location of the AMA to the associated mining lease as well as provide details of how the AMA facilitates the associated mining lease.

All AMAs must be approved by an appropriate development consent if required under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

Development consent is granted by the appropriate planning ‘consent authority’, under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. The planning consent authority can be a local council, a regional panel, or the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.

Development consent must be in force before a mining lease can be granted as per section 65(1) of the Mining Act 1992.  

The development consent must provide consent for the mining operations and/or any ancillary mining activities within the entirety of the proposed lease area. A mining lease will not be granted for any activities not specified in the development consent.

As part of your application for a mining lease, you will need to declare if you already have development consent or if not, to provide an estimated lodgement date for the development consent. 

Your mining lease application can be rejected if you do not provide:

• evidence that you have applied for development within 3 years of lodging your mining lease application, or
• evidence that development consent has been granted and is in force, within 3 years of lodging your mining lease application.

The department’s decision-maker can extend the 3-year period to provide evidence. The ability to reject your application for failure to provide evidence occurs under section 65 of the Mining Act 1992 and clause 26A of the Mining Regulation 2016. 

An application for development consent to mine coal cannot be made or granted unless:

• you also hold a mining authority for coal that is in force for the land where coal mining is proposed, or
• you have the written consent of the holder of the mining authority for coal that is in force for the land where coal mining is proposed. 

These additional requirements for coal mining are under section 380AA of the Mining Act 1992.

Work program

If you already have a current development consent, or are lodging an application for development consent, you do not need to provide a work program. 

You will need to provide a work program with your application for a mining lease if there is no development consent in force and if an application for development consent is not being lodged. 

The proposed work program will need to address the following:

• The nature and extent of operations to be carried out under the mining lease.
• The commitments relating to the conduct of mining operations, including the timing of the operations.
• The carrying out of activities such as community consultation and environmental management and rehabilitation in connection with, or ancillary to, the mining operations.

This is to satisfy the requirements of section 129A of the Mining Act 1992 and clause 35 of the Mining Regulation 2016.

The Mineral prospecting minimum standards do not apply to the work program provided with your application for a mining lease. 

Native title is the name Australian law gives to the traditional rights and interests that indigenous groups have practised, and continue to practise, over land and water. Native title can be determined to exist under the Commonwealth’s Native Title Act 1993.

Where native title exists, the NSW Government and NSW Resources is required to follow the processes set out in the Commonwealth’s Native Title Act 1993. For the purposes of processing applications, NSW Resources assumes native title may exist until proven otherwise.

As part of the mining lease application, you will be required to identify how you wish to comply with the Native Title Act 1993. You may select one of the following options:

• Attach proof that native title has been extinguished. 
• Commence the ‘Right to Negotiate’ process or an applicable alternative process provided for in the Commonwealth Native Title Act 1993.

For more information, read the guideline on Native title and the administration of exploration and mining legislation in NSW or visit the Native Title page

Proof of extinguishment

You may also provide evidence that asserts that native title has been extinguished over your entire application area. 

If you are providing proof of extinguishment, you will need to prepare a native title extinguishment assessment report. 

The department has prepared a Guideline: The preparation of native title assessment reports in support of applications for authorities granted under the Mining Act 1992 and the Petroleum(Onshore) Act 1991. The guideline sets out the information required to demonstrate that native title has been extinguished and provides templates to assist in preparing your extinguishment assessment report. 

Your native title extinguishment assessment report will need to be submitted when you lodge your application for a mining lease. 

If the department is satisfied native title has been extinguished, a mining lease may be granted without completing the Right to Negotiate process. 

Right to Negotiate

If you nominate to undertake the ‘Right to Negotiate’ process under the Commonwealth’s Native Title Act 1993, you will need to complete this process before your mining lease is granted. 

The department has prepared a Right to Negotiate guideline that sets out how the Right to Negotiate process under the Native Title Act 1993 is applied to a mining lease. 

The Right to Negotiate process requires notification, which may include public advertising at your cost. As part of the notification process, the department will prepare a diagram and will seek your confirmation that it accurately reflects your proposed lease area. 

If there is a registered native title party, you must negotiate in good faith with this party with a view to obtaining their agreement to granting your lease. 

You can also undertake an alternative process that excludes the operation of Subdivision P of the Native Title Act 1993. An alternative process can include a procedure under an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) that enables granting a mining lease. 

There are restrictions on the grant of mining leases over land that contains dwelling-houses, gardens and significant improvements under section 62 of the Mining Act 1992.

A mining lease cannot be granted over land:

• on or within 200m of a dwelling-house, 
• on or within 50m of a garden, or
• on which is situated a significant improvement

If your mining lease affects one or more of the above, you will need to provide written consent of the relevant owner. In the case of a dwelling-house, the written consent of both the owner and its occupant is required. 

Such written consent is irrevocable. 

If you are unable to provide written consent, you will need to provide a justification stating why you have not provided the consent with your application. 

Written consent is not needed if you, or a related corporation of the applicant, is the owner of the dwelling-house, garden or significant improvement.

Written consent also does not need to be provided if the dwelling-house, garden or significant improvement did not exist at the relevant date. The relevant date depends on the circumstances including:

• In the case of a mining lease application for coal that was the subject of an application by the holder of an exploration licence for coal or assessment lease for coal, the lodgement date of that application.
• In the case of a mining lease application made by the holder of an assessment lease or mineral claim over the same land, the date on which the assessment lease or mineral claim was granted.
• In the case of a mining lease not mentioned above, the date on which the mining lease application was lodged.

You must provide an assessment of the mineral bearing capacity of the land within your proposed lease area and of the extent of any mineral deposits in that land.

The assessment should be provided in the form of a current resource or reserve statement relevant to the application area only. Reporting of mineral and coal resources or reserves should be produced to a standard at least equivalent to the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC), if possible. 

The statement will need to document all classified resources and differentiate classified from global or in-situ resources. Also, ensure the resource or reserve documents demonstrate the anticipated mining depletion over the term sought.

A statement of the recent mineral resource or ore reserve estimate can also be provided to an international equivalent standard to JORC such as NO 43-101 or SAMREC. Alternatively, an assessment of the mineral resource can be a statement of the global estimated mineral resources of the land.

A statement of compliance, environmental performance and financial history (SOCH) of the applicant is an essential component of an application for a mining lease. 

Each applicant of the application for a mining lease must lodge their own separate SOCH form online via the Regulator Portal.

A SOCH form lodged with the department remains valid for 12 months from the date a SOCH reference number (unique identification number starting with SOCH and then 7 numbers) is issued to you. However, if any information provided by you has changed (e.g. compliance history, corporate structure) since lodging your SOCH, a new SOCH form is required to be lodged via the Regulator Portal.

The application for a mining lease will ask you to provide the SOCH reference numbers for all applicants. 

For a mining lease application, any reference to ‘the applicant’ includes a reference to each individual applicant where there is more than one applicant declared on the application. 

To be eligible to hold a mining lease, you must either be a person at least of 18 years of age, or a company eligible to undertake business in NSW.

The application for a mining lease requires the nomination of a contact person with a valid email address.

The contact person can be the authorised agent or if the applicant is a company, it can be an authorised representative of the company. Similarly, if the applicant is a natural person, they can nominate themselves as the contact person. 

Any correspondence regarding the application will be sent to the nominated contact person, including any documents that the department is required to serve. The application requires you to nominate an email address for service of any correspondence, notices, or documents relating to your application and any subsequent lease which is granted.

An agent can lodge an application for a mining lease on behalf of their clients. 

If you are using an agent to lodge your mining lease application, you must provide evidence that the agent has the authority to act on your behalf. The agent can upload this evidence when they complete and lodge your application. 

For further information on the use of agents and the documentary evidence that is required to be submitted, refer to “Appointing an agent” section within the Other applications to manage an authority throughout its lifecycle page.

Your application for a mining lease will require you to nominate a technical manager. 

The technical manager will need to complete the template for technical managers form, which provides their consent to undertake the role as well as their details, including their tertiary qualifications and/or professional experience. 

The Mineral prospecting minimum standards do not apply to the technical managers nominated as part of applications for mining leases.

You will need to provide a map of your proposed mining lease area.

The map requires the use of GDA2020 and GDA94 coordinates to show the alignment of the proposed lease boundaries. Coordinates are required at all points where there is a change in the direction of the proposed lease boundary. A CSV coordinate file of the coordinates is also required. 

If such a map is not available, you can provide either a cadastral map, or if that is not available, an aerial photograph.

To understand how to prepare a standard map using coordinates to describe your proposed application area, refer to the Describing and mapping an authority area page.

A survey plan is completed by a registered surveyor and describes the boundaries of a mining lease.

You do not need to provide the survey plan when lodging your application for a mining lease. We will advise you in writing when the survey plan is required and the period by which the survey must be provided. However, you must provide the survey plan before your mining lease is granted. 

For further information on preparing a survey plan, refer to the Describing and mapping an authority area page.

The land you propose to mine can also potentially be wholly or partially subjected to surface exceptions and/or depth restrictions. Surface exceptions and depth restrictions can occur when there are overlapping and conflicting authorities and applications. 

Surface exceptions refer to the surface area of the land or the geological strata directly underneath that are not included in the authority area. For instance, if a mining lease has a surface exception of 20 metres, this means that the surface of the land and the first 20 metres below the surface of the land is not included in the lease area.

Depth restrictions refer to how deep the authority goes underneath the surface. For coal (Group 9) and/or oil shale (Group 9A) prospecting and mining authorities, there is a maximum depth restriction of 900 metres below the Australian Height Datum (AHD).  

As part of your application, you must specify if your proposed mining area is subject to any or has nil surface exceptions and depth restrictions. 

You can use MinView to find information about potential surface exceptions and depth restrictions for the land you are proposing to mine.

If your proposed lease area does have part or various surface exceptions and/or depth restrictions, you will need to provide a strata diagram. The strata diagram will need to indicate the area and depth of the surface exception and/or depth restriction over the proposed lease area.

If your granted lease has nil surface exceptions and depth restrictions this means that your lease area has no restrictions on the strata that can be mined. If your lease has both surface exceptions and depth restrictions, you are only authorised to mine within the strata area in between the depth of the surface exception and depth restriction.

The land you propose to mine may already be covered wholly or partially by an existing authority, or by an application for an exploration licence, assessment lease, mining lease or mineral claim.

You must supply written consent with your application if your proposed lease area overlaps and conflicts with an existing authorisation or application as per section 58 of the Mining Act 1992. 

Your mining lease will not be granted unless you have the written consent of the authority holder or applicant of an authorisation if your application overlays an area: 

• subject to a granted exploration licence that includes any minerals sought by your lease
• subject to an application for an exploration licence that includes any minerals sought by your lease
• subject to an application for a mining lease, assessment lease or a mineral claim 
• subject to an existing mining lease, assessment lease or mineral claim applies.

You do not need to provide written consent from the other authority holder when your proposed lease area overlaps an exploration licence that has been granted for different mineral groups. 

The department will serve a notice on the holders of the exploration licence as per section 59 of the Mining Act 1992. The holder of the exploration licence may object to the granting of your mining lease. Any objections made will be taken into consideration by the decision-maker when determining your application. 

Any written consent provided to you by the other authorisation holder or applicant for an authorisation is irrevocable.

Where written consent is in place, the area of conflicting overlap will typically cease to be part of the prior authorisation or the prior application when your lease is granted. However, your application can also be granted as overlapping with the other conflicting authorisations if it is not likely to make the exercise of the holder’s rights under each authorisation impracticable.

You will need to provide details of any authorities that are relevant to your application. This includes any authorities each applicant holds over or near the proposed lease area.

If you are applying for a mining lease for ancillary mining activities only, you must identify the associated mining leases for minerals that are being facilitated by the ancillary mining activities. For more information on ancillary mining activities, refer to “Apply for ancillary mining activity condition to be added to mining lease” section within the Other applications to manage an authority throughout its lifecycle page.

If you are applying for a controlled release mineral within a control release area, you must identify the authorities you hold. Please note that an application for a mining lease can only be lodged over a controlled release area by the holder of an authority for the controlled release mineral. 

Currently, the entire state of NSW is designated as a controlled release area for coal. For further information on control release areas, refer to the Classification of land under the Mining Act 1992 page.

Protected reserves are gazetted areas of land where granting mining leases can be prohibited under section 367 of the Mining Act 1992. A protected reserve can prevent authorities from being granted in that area.

An application for a mining lease requires you to identify whether your proposed lease area includes any protected reserves. If it does, you must confirm that you understand that your lease may not be granted for the area that overlaps with the protected reserve. 

For further information on protected reserves, refer to the Classification of land under the Mining Act 1992 page.

Mineral allocation areas are gazetted areas of land for any specified minerals or a particular group of minerals under section 368 of the Mining Act 1992. For further information on mineral allocation areas, refer to the Classification of land under the Mining Act 1992 page.

If your proposed lease area overlays a mineral allocation area and your application includes an allocated mineral, you will need to satisfy one of the following:

• You are the holder of an exploration licence, assessment lease or mining lease for that allocated mineral over your proposed lease area, or
• Your application is made with the Minister’s consent. 

If you require the Minister’s consent, you must obtain the Minister’s consent before lodging your application for a mining lease. To find out how to request the Minister’s consent, please email titles@dpird.nsw.gov.au and we will endeavour to reply within 2 business days.

When applying for a mining lease, you must supply several support documents in order for your application to be assessed. These documents must be supplied either when lodging your application, within 10 business days of lodging your application, or before the determination of your application.

The following is a checklist of the documents you must submit. You must supply these documents when lodging your application or within 10 business days:

• Scaled plan and details of how ancillary mining activities facilitate the associated mining lease if applying for ancillary mining activities.
• Proof of extinguishment of native title or details on the alternate process for native title.
• A copy of current development consent if mining lease has current development consent.
• A work program if mining lease will not have development consent.
• The written consent of the owner and occupier or justification of why consent is not provided if land is affected by dwelling-houses.
• The written consent of the owner or justification of why consent is not provided if land is affected by gardens and significant improvements.
• Assessment of mineral bearing capacity.
• Statement of compliance, environmental performance and financial history. 
• Proof that the applicant is authorised to operate and carry out business in NSW if applicant is a foreign entity.
• Template for technical managers form.
• Evidence of appointment of agent if using an agent.
• A standard map using GDA94 and GDA2020 coordinates of proposed mining area in CSV format.
• A strata diagram if applying for surface exceptions and/or depth restrictions over parts of the proposed mining area.
• Written consent of the other authorisation holder or applicant if your application is conflicting or overlapping with other authorities and applications.
• A copy of the Minister’s consent if applying for an allocated mineral within a mineral allocation area.
• Proof of payment of application fee.

Additionally, you must supply the following documents after lodging your application and before the determination of your application:

• Development consent.
• Proof of extinguishment of native title.
• Advertisement notice.
• Notification of landholder(s).
• Survey plan.
• Proof of payment of annual rental fee, annual administrative levy, mining lease grant fee and security deposit. 

When applying for a mining (mineral owner) lease, you must supply several supporting documents. These documents must be supplied either when lodging your application, within 10 business days of lodging your application, or before the determination of your mining (mineral owner) lease. 

The following is a checklist of the documents you must submit when applying for a mining (mineral owner) lease. You must supply these documents when lodging your application or within 10 business days:

• Evidence of ownership of minerals.
• Scaled plan and details of how ancillary mining activities facilitate the associated mining lease if applying for ancillary mining activities.
• Proof of extinguishment of native title or details on the alternate process for native title.
• A copy of current development consent if mining lease has current development consent.
• A work program if mining lease will not have development consent.
• The written consent of the owner and occupier or justification of why consent is not provided if land is affected by dwelling-houses.
• The written consent of the owner or justification of why consent is not provided if land is affected by gardens and significant improvements.
• Assessment of mineral bearing capacity.
• Statement of compliance, environmental performance and financial history. 
• Proof that the applicant is authorised to operate and carry out business in NSW if applicant is a foreign entity.
• Template for technical managers form.
• Evidence of appointment of agent if using an agent.
• A standard map using GDA94 and GDA2020 coordinates of proposed mining area in CSV format.
• A strata diagram if applying for surface exceptions and/or depth restrictions over parts of the proposed mining area.
• Written consent of the other authorisation holder or applicant if your application is conflicting or overlapping with other authorities and applications.
• A copy of the Minister’s consent if applying for an allocated mineral within a mineral allocation area.
• Proof of payment of application fee.

Additionally, you must supply the following documents after lodging your application and before the determination of your application:

• Development consent. 
• Proof of extinguishment of native title.
• Advertisement notice. 
• Notification of landholder.
• Survey plan.
• Proof of payment of annual rental fee, annual administrative levy, mining lease grant fee and security deposit. 

The key legislative and regulatory provisions relevant to applying for a mining lease include:

• Application for mining lease – section 51 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Applications for mining leases – clause 25 of the Mining Regulation 2016.
• Term of mining lease – section 71 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Limit on subsequent applications – section 51B of the Mining Act 1992.
• Minerals – Schedule 1 of the Mining Regulation 2016.
• Meaning of ancillary mining activity – clause 7 of the Mining Regulation 2016.
• Designated ancillary mining activities – section 6 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Development consents under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979– section 65 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Prescribed period for providing evidence of development application or development consent – clause 26A of the Mining Regulation 2016.
• Restrictions on planning applications for coal mining – section 380AA of the Mining Act 1992.
• Applications to be supported by proposed work program – section 129A of the Mining Act 1992.
• Work programs accompanying applications for authorities – clause 35 of the Mining Regulation 2016.
• Dwelling-houses, gardens and significant improvements – section 62 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Land subject to authority – section 58 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Land subject to exploration licence – section 59 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Protected reserves – section 367 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Mineral allocation areas – section 368 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Notice of application for mining lease – section 51A of the Mining Act 1992.
• Notices for application for mining leases – clause 26 of the Mining Regulation 2016.
• Publication of notices – clause 89K of the Mining Regulation 2016.
• Notification of landholders – clause 21 of Schedule 1 of the Mining Act 1992.
• Standard map – clause 9 of the Mining Regulation 2016. 
• Providing false or misleading information – section 378C of the Mining Act 1992.
• Protection of the environment must be taken into account in considering applications – clause 3 of Schedule 1B of the Mining Act 1992.
• Other matters that may be taken into account in considering applications – clause 4 of Schedule 1B of the Mining Act 1992.

The key policies or guidelines relevant to applying for a mining lease include:

• Guideline: The preparation of native title assessment reports in support of applications for authorities granted under the Mining Act 1992 and the Petroleum(Onshore) Act 1991
• Native title and the administration of exploration and mining legislation in NSW 
• Guideline: Right to negotiate (PDF, 192.27 KB)
• Advertising a notice for an application for a mining lease