DEM’s administration of mineral tenements in South Australia includes:
- maintaining the Mining Register
- mineral claims registration
- assessing applications for exploration licences, miscellaneous purposes licences, mining and retention leases
- registration of instruments including transfers, joint venture agreements, caveats, surrenders etc
- receipting fees, Crown rent and administering rent to landowners
- monitoring court matters
- management of private mines and native title mining agreement registrations.
Figure 1: Mineral tenements and major mines as at 30 June 2022
Figure 3: Number of tenements and private mines (by year)
Popup table version of Figure 3: Number of tenements and private mines (by year)
Table 1: Receipt statistics for mineral tenement applications FY2021–22
| Application | Received | Granted or registered | Total area granted (ha) | Withdrawn | Refused or invalid | Outstanding* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exploration | ||||||
| Exploration licence | 159 | 189 | 8,712,900 | 12 | 0 | 215 |
| Mining | ||||||
| Mineral claim | 19 | 36 | 2,855 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Miscellaneous purposes licence | 1 | 2 | 90 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mineral lease | 12 | 2 | 1,937 | 1 | 3 | 18 |
| Extractive minerals lease | 8 | 4 | 145 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Retention lease | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Total mining | 41 | 44 | 5027.25 | 3 | 3 | 42 |
| Total (exploration and mining) | 200 | 233 | 8,717,927.25 | 15 | 3 | 257 |
| *Outstanding mineral tenement applications are those in progress as at 30/06/2022 | ||||||
Table 2: Tenement transactions processed and endorsed FY2021–22
| Application type | Exploration | Mining | Total exploration and mining | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral leases | Extractive mineral leases | Other lease types | Total mining | |||
| Transfer instruments | 43 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 56 |
| Renewal | 4 | 29 | 62 | 35 | 126 | 130 |
| Renewal over reduced area* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Surrender | 6 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 11 |
| Partial surrender | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Private mine revocations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 58 | 34 | 76 | 36 | 146 | 204 |
| *Applies to exploration licences only | ||||||
Table 3: Public notices published FY2021–22
| Application type | Number of applications advertised | Number of public notices* |
|---|---|---|
| Exploration licence | 52 | 30 |
| Mining lease | 6 | 25 |
| Extractive minerals lease | 5 | 3 |
| Retention lease | 1 | 5 |
| Miscellaneous purposes licence | 0 | 0 |
| *Multiple notices are made per application | ||
Public consultation and transparency are key elements of DEM’s regulatory principles. DEM seeks community feedback on mining applications, including the grant of tenure and changes to operations where there is a significant change to environmental impacts. This consultation provides an opportunity for the community to understand and submit comments on the proposed operations. Public notices are published on DEM's website, in the Government Gazette and local newspapers. Affected landowners, the local council and other stakeholders are informed of mining applications that may impact them, or in which they may have an interest.
Instruments registered on the Mining Register
DEM is committed to creating a transparent, accountable system for the regulation of mineral resources in South Australia. In 2021–22, 704 instruments – transactions that impact the status of a tenement – were registered on the Mining Register against mineral tenements in South Australia.
A full list of all instruments can be found in Appendix 1: Registered and endorsed instruments.
Mining Register searches
There were 2,719 online Mining Register searches looking for tenement information. This became a free service from 1 January 2021 with the introduction of the new Mining Act.
Court actions
- One court action was instigated at the Warden's Court in 2021–22.
- One court action was instigated at the Environment, Resources and Development (ERD) Court in 2021–22.
Further details on court actions can be found in Appendix 2:Court actions:
Annual rent and fees
Under the Mining Act, where land is held in freehold title, DEM must distribute 95% of Crown rent paid for a mining lease, retention lease or miscellaneous purposes licence granted over the freehold land to the landowners. In 2021–22, $2.3 million was dispersed to 296 freehold owners.
