Surveying of mining tenure

Listed below are the application requirements to be met for any surveyor to be included in the list of approved surveyors to carry out official Mining Tenement surveys.

Written applications must be sent to the department’s Director of the Mineral Titles Group and provide documentary proof of the following essential criteria:

• must be a Licensed Surveyor recognised by the Land Surveyors’ Licensing Board (LSLB), under the Licensed Surveyors Act 1909
• hold a current Practising Certificate recognised by the LSLB, by attending sufficient industry seminars and workshops to maintain the required accreditation points in each calendar year
• possess current personal or employer’s professional indemnity insurance
• include a brief resume of relevant work experience in the survey industry, and provide some examples of recent cadastral survey work
• preferably include a reference from a surveyor with whom you have been working under direct supervision, and is currently on the list of approved surveyors (desirable).

Application for approval as an underground mine surveyor should be directed to the department’s Resources Safety Division.

The list of approved surveyors provides a detailed list of currently accredited approved surveyors who have made application, and been endorsed, to conduct official departmental mining tenement surveys, under the Contract Survey System.

The list has been prepared in accordance with Section 162 Sub-Section (ka)(i) of the Mining Act 1978 and Regulation 117. This followed a commitment by the department, upon the introduction of the revised survey system, for the survey of mining tenements requiring the lessee(s) selection of an approved surveyor for survey at the lessee(s) cost.

The “Contract Survey System” operates under the statutory obligations of the Mining Act 1978, which directs that all leases be surveyed on grant. See Sections 80, 82, and 105B, and Regulations 118A, B and C of the Mining Act 1978.

Under the Contract Survey System the responsibility for choosing and contracting an Approved Surveyor, and the cost of survey is met by the lessee.

Under amendment 39/2004 to the Mining Act 1978, effective 10/02/2006, a lease application must be supported by a Mining Proposal (MP) or Mineralisation Report, submitted at the time of application.

Grant of such leases (which includes grant of MP) will initiate a directive to survey.

The Department is also concurrently administering the orderly roll out of a state wide contract survey back capture program, to clear the backlog of unsurveyed leases granted before 10/02/2006, with the oldest granted leases having the highest priority.

Approval for any MP or mining activity must be made to the department’s Director of the Environment Division.

A Statement of Reason for Decision and an appropriate Information Paper are attached in respect to the Contract Survey System.

The Provisions and Regulations of the Mining Act and Directions relating to the Surveying of Mining Tenure states the appropriate Sections and Regulations of the Mining Act 1978 (WA) affecting surveys and relating to the requirements of “marking out” and “surveying” of mining tenements.

It also provides directions and guidance for surveyors approved by the Department of Mines and Petroleum (including examples) for performing limited marking surveys under the Mining Act 1978 (WA).

DMIRS has introduced the online lodgement of survey documents and survey data to support the streamlining of its business processes.

Online lodgements will create greater efficiencies in the survey process and the integration of new surveyed leases into Landgate’s Spatial Cadastral Database and DMIRS’ Tengraph Web.

All Approved Surveyors are encouraged to adopt these changes to serve Western Australia’s mining industry more effectively by expediting the display of tenement holders’ surveyed leases within DMIRS’ spatial mapping systems and the production of certified legal survey documents.

All surveyors on the DMIRS ‘List of Approved Surveyors’ are expected to modify their work practices to enable online lodgement by 1 July 2021.

No manual lodgement of survey provided documents will be accepted after this date.

Mineral Titles Online with enable the lodgement of:

• Surveyors field book in PDF;
• FORM 44 Surveyors Report in PDF; and
• CSD data file containing surveys within a survey project.

DMIRS has already ceased supplying surveyors’ hardcopy field books.

As a replacement for the physical field book, the department has provided an enhanced digital DMIRS field notes template at its Data and Software Centre. The document is located under Map services and resources Tab under surveying folder. A Form 44 Surveyors Report is also located in the same folder.

For further assistance on this new online lodgement process and details on what actions approved surveyors must take in order to comply, please read the following: Requirements for Online Lodgement.

A Online Lodgement of Survey Documents and Survey Data Help Guide is also available.

If you are a licensed and currently accredited surveyor who wishes to become a DMIRS listed Approved Surveyor, please read the section above on Application for Surveyor Approval.

The GDA outlines the mapping and coordinate system, based on the centre of the Earth as its origin, that best represents Australia's coordinate system integrated with all other global spatial information.

You can download a variety of the department’s State-wide spatial datasets for free, available at our Data and Software Centre.

This applies to the department’s custodial data only. Cadastral and topographic datasets can only be sourced from Landgate.