What do Mining Lawyers do?
Mining lawyers deal with the vast range of legal products and services which are used by the mining industry. The mining industry must often deal with legal issues surrounding the key mining legislation in Australia. Mining legislation in New South Wales, for example, is extensive and currently under very fast development. At the moment, the government in New South Wales is undertaking a comprehensive review of mining legislation. Some of the objectives of the reforms are to update the environmental management provisions of the Mining Act 1992 (NSW) with modern environmental standards. This has led to the development of the Mining Amendment Act 2008 and the associated Mining Regulation 2010 and the intended Mining Exploration code. This regulatory regime will cause an large update to the environmental standards built into the act and the widen the scope of many of the environmental protections built into the current regime. This will mean that mining companies will have to take a great deal more care in relation to the operations that they undertake and be much more mindful of the environmental impacts lest they may face enforcement proceedings undertaken by the Environmental Defenders Office.
Another example of the updates currently occurring in New South Wales mining law are the proposal for an exploration code which will mandate a lower level of environmental damage as a result of exploratory mining operations. Some of the other legislation which regulates the mining industry is in new south wales is the Clean Coal Administration Act 2008 which mandates the way that different grades of coal may be mined and consumed, the Coal Acquisition Act 1981 which has regulations about the burning of coal and how it can be mined. There is the Coal Industry Act 2001 and the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act 2002 which contain many of occupational health and safety provisions which relate to the coal mine industry. This Act also has similar provisions to the more general Mine Health and Safety Act 2004 and the associated Mine Safety (Cost Recovery) Act 2005. The law also provides for compensation in the case of injuries or death resulting from mining accidents with the Mine Subsidence Compensation Act 1961. The most recent overarching legislation for the entire industry is the Mining Act 1992. Offshore resource extraction is also dealt with in the Offshore Minerals Act 1999 and the Petroleum (Offshore) Act 1982, the Petroleum (Onshore) Act 1991 and the Uranium Mining and Nuclear Facilities (Prohibitions) Act 1986. The last of these pieces of legislation regulates the most controversial of all topics in Mining – Uranium.
How can I get help from a mining lawyer?
If you need advice about the operation of any of these acts or any other aspect of the legal aspects of the mining industry then please do not hesitate to contact us in relation to any of these questions. There is a great deal of complex regulation surrounding the mining industry and it can be difficult to understand exactly what your obligations are as miner or how you may have been affected if you are a third party. We would be very interested to hear from you if you have any questions about the regulation of the mining industry.
