In our 25 March 2020 article, we set out various grounds of exemption which might be available for explorers or producers facing difficulties in meeting their tenement minimum expenditure conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minister for Mines and Petroleum has now announced that he will issue a Ministerial Statement of Opinion in order to streamline consideration of applications for exploration expenditure relief from explorers and producers who are unable to meet minimum tenement expenditure requirements as a direct result of COVID-19 or because of restrictions imposed by the State or Federal governments.
We expect this process will be run as applications under the general Ministerial discretion for relief available under section 102(3) of the Mining Act 1978 (WA).
We await the formal Ministerial Statement of Opinion, which is due to be published within the next few days, to understand the scope of this new relief and will publish an update when it is released.
Effects of COVID-19 on travel for FIFO workers
The Western Australian (WA) Government has implemented restrictions and arrival requirements for travel into WA from other Australian States and Territories, as well as intrastate regional travel restrictions within WA.
While to date the mining industry workforce has been given certain exemptions from those restrictions and requirements, we expect those exemptions to be under constant review and subject to change at short notice.
It is likely that in the coming days further restrictions on interstate travel will be put in place, removing the interstate mining industry exemption for travel into WA.
For more information or advice, please contact our Resources and Energy team.