December quarter regulatory performance supports continued responsible resource activity across all licence categories.
| Date: | Wednesday, 24 March 2021 |
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The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety’s (DMIRS) latest approvals performance report for Mining and Petroleum demonstrates the department meeting all of its key approval process target timelines, despite an increase in applications received.
The number of Exploration Licence, Miscellaneous Licence, Programme of Work and Mining Proposal applications increased during the calendar year 2020 compared to previous years. Mining Lease applications were steady, whilst the number of Prospecting Licence applications decreased slightly compared to previous years. Petroleum application numbers were steady during 2020.
Notable results included finalising 99 per cent of Mineral Exploration Licence applications, 100 per cent of Mining Leases and 98 per cent of Prospecting Licences within their respective target timeframes.
A new feature of the report shows the average total timeline for Programme of Work and Mining Proposal applications for the quarter. Total timelines allow proponents to better plan for exploration and development activities.
Reporting of “open applications” has been added to mineral tenure applications. This improves the transparency of the number of applications that are on hand and are an indicator of the department’s continuing workload.
DMIRS Director General David Smith said the new reporting features will help provide more transparency to the mining and petroleum industries and the public about the department’s licensing performance in resource related approvals.
“I am pleased the department has maintained timeliness at a time of considerable disruption due to COVID-19 and responded to a continued strong level of demand from the sector that has underpinned the State’s strong economic performance during these difficult times”, Mr Smith said.
“The department is committed to providing transparent quarterly performance reporting and we will continue to work hard to maintain our high regulatory standards, and those expected by the community, across the approvals process for this important sector,” said Mr Smith.
