When an exploration licence is granted it is subject to the annual regulation fee payable at the grant date. For example, if a licence is granted prior to 1 January 2020 it will be subject to the annual regulation fees applicable to 31 December 2019. However, if a licence is granted on or after 1 January 2020 it will be subject to one of the three regulation fee zones and will be charged the relevant fee.
After 1 January 2020 all licences will be subject to the new zones and even if they were granted prior to 1 January 2020 they will be charged the annual regulation fee based on the zone(s) the licence is in for the second and subsequent years' fees.