Confidential Access

Confidential access is a level of security available in Mineral Titles Online (MTO) that will enable registered tenement holders or their nominated agents to view tenement title detail that is of a confidential nature.

In the past, MTO has provided only publicly available information regarding tenements. With confidential access, registered tenement holders can view tenement information that was previously only available by contacting the department. In addition, registered holders will be able to nominate other users who will also be able to view this information.

The new functionality will provide holders or nominated agents with the ability to manage who has access to view this information regarding their tenements.

Initially, the main advantage of having confidential access will be the ability of an authorised user to view in-depth tenement application and tracking information. In the future, it will also be used to facilitate electronic lodgement of Mining Act forms and provide details of other approval processes.

Confidential access functionality is not automatically issued to registered holders. For security reasons it involves a formal application process and approval through the department.

There are two basic types of confidential access available to external MTO users, including confidential access administrator (CA Administrator) and confidential access user (CA User).

This level of access may be granted to MTO users following an application from the registered tenement holder. Once authorised, a CA Administrator will be able to:

• view confidential data for all the tenements held by the registered holder
• authorise and manage other MTO users to be able to see confidential details for the tenements by that holder.

Confidential access can be given to registered tenement holders or a person anointed by holders.

This level of access is granted by confidential access administrators and allows users to view confidential data for some (CA User – Restricted) or all (CA User – Full) of the tenements for a registered holder. Users with this access level cannot authorise other users to use confidential access.

Note: If a registered holder acquires tenements via new applications or transfer, for example, the new tenement/s will be automatically added to the list of tenements that can be accessed where the user has been authorised for all tenements (CA User - Full). For a CA User – Restricted, the acquired tenements will need to be manually added to the access rights of the Confidential Administrator.

An application for administrative confidential access can be made by completing the application form and lodging it with the department. The application must be signed by the registered holder or, where the application is being made on behalf of a company or an individual, be supported by a letter of consent to access signed by the registered holder (or on a company letterhead with respect to a company). These requests will be held by the department for auditing purposes.

The decision as to whether confidential access will be granted will rest with the department.

At this stage, these rights provide you with access to full application tracking information. This is accessed by clicking the application tracking button in the top right hand corner of the Tenement Register page. The tracking information contained here is explained in the compliance tasks information explained section below.

In addition to the publically available detail, the full tracking functionality displays tenement application determination processes, which usually remain between registered holders or applicants and the department .

The list of confidential access benefits will be increased in time to include the forthcoming elodgement and other approval processes.

When determining mining tenement applications, the department needs to assess whether certain statutory and departmental policy and procedural requirements are being met. These are the requirements form tasks which are completed to ensure compliance.

The tasks are completed in most cases in a set order but this can vary from each tenement application. These tasks may run either severally or concurrently and may be a reflection of either compliance action being undertaken by the department, other statutory authority or compliance action required to be taken by the tenement applicants.

Some of the compliance tasks may also contain confidential information that can only be viewed by authorised users (see confidential access above).

The task bars are displayed (shaded) in four different colours as follows:

• grey – this reflects that the task has either yet to start or is not applicable
• blue – this reflects that action has begun on the specific task and is progressing
• green – this reflects that action is now complete for that specific task
• orange – will only display for users who are registered as CA Users, and reflects there is action required by tenement applicants to further progress the application.

Instructions for setting up confidential access can be found in the MTO Help section.