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Mineral Exploration Reporting (WA)

Mineral explorers are required to report annually on their exploration projects under Western Australian legislation.

Refer to the DMIRS overview of Mineral Exploration Reporting

Tenements for which exploration reports are required:

It is the responsibility of the tenement holder/operator to ensure that full details of all exploration activities carried out on the following tenement types are included in the reports irrespective of whether the exploration was undertaken by the holder/operator, a consultant, joint venture partner or any other party.

  • Exploration Licences (E)
  • Mining Leases (M)
  • Prospecting Licences (P)
  • Retention Licences (R)
  • Residual 1904 Mining Act tenure

Types of mineral exploration reports required:

  • Annual Report
    • An annual report for each tenement must be submitted each year, by the due date, where exploration has taken place.
  • Partial Surrender Report
    • A partial surrender report must be submitted whenever part of a tenement is surrendered either voluntarily or compulsorily and must contain all exploration work, or mining activities, undertaken on the surrendered portion(s) of the tenement since the date of grant.
  • Surrender Report
    • A surrender report must be submitted when a tenement is surrendered, has expired or is forfeited, and must contain all exploration work carried out and data collected on the tenement since the date of grant.

Combined reporting

The holder of, or agent for, a group of granted tenements may apply for Ministerial approval to submit one combined annual mineral exploration report on a common date for a group of contiguous tenements that are being worked as one exploration project.

As approval for combined reporting establishes a group for the purpose of applying for expenditure exemptions under Section 102(2)(h) of the Mining Act 1978, the expenditure history of individual tenements may be taken into account when a combined reporting request is being considered.

A combined mineral exploration report will not be accepted unless prior approval has been given in writing.

Applicaton for combined reporting

An application for combined reporting must be submitted on the form overleaf, and must be accompanied by the relevant information as detailed on the form. The combined reporting form is also available on the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety website.

An application for combined reporting may be approved if:

  • there is a common geological target;
  • the tenements are contiguous (or nearly contiguous) and do not extend over large areas;
  • all tenements have the same holder; or the holder/operator has the legal ability to acquire at least a controlling interest in all tenements in the group;
  • all overdue reports on individual tenements have been submitted.

Applications to include additional tenements into granted groups, or vary reporting dates, must be made using the form, and will be considered in the same way as new applications. Removal of tenements from a group may be requested by the holder or operator at any time.

An approval for combined reporting does not remove the obligation to complete the Form 5 Operations Report (annual expenditure statement) for each individual tenement in the group. The Form 5 must be submitted to the Department within 60 days after the anniversary date of each individual tenement.

Submission dates:

  • An Annual Report must be submitted no later than 60 days after each anniversary of the tenement.
  • A Partial Surrender Report must be submitted no later than 60 days after the surrender date of part of the tenement.
  • A Surrender Report must be submitted no later than 60 days after the surrender, expiry or forfeiture of a tenement.
  • A Combined Annual Report must be submitted on the agreed combined reporting date.

An extension of time to lodge a mineral exploration report will not be granted.

An annual report is required annually for each tenement 60 days after the anniversary of a tenement, unless the tenement is part of a group report, then the exploration report is due at a date stipulated by DMIRS. To obtain group reporting for a group of tenements they must be contiguous or nearly contiguous and the total area of the tenements must not exceed an area stipulated by the Director of the Geological Survey.

The holder(s) of, or agent for, a group of granted tenements may apply for Ministerial approval, in accordance with Section 115A(4), to submit one combined annual mineral exploration report on a common date for a group of two or more contiguous (or nearly contiguous) tenements that are being worked in a common exploration program. The Minister takes the following into consideration.

  1. The geological target being investigated in common exploration programme;
  2. The geographical distribution of the tenements;
  3. The previous history of the combined reporting (all individual reports must be submitted); and
  4. Common ownership of the tenements.

To apply for group reporting use this form; which is in the reporting guidelines Form for Combined Reporting Request for a Tenement Group (DOC)

The following link is to the complete guidelines for exploration reporting Guidelines Mineral Exploration Reports (PDF)

For Online Reporting, refer to WAMEX

Group Reporting is very important as it becomes the basis of one of the reasons for an exemption from expenditure under Section 102(2)(h) of the Mining Act 1978.

If mineral exploration reports are not lodged as required under Section 115A(2), or the reports lodged do not meet the requirements of Section115A(3), then those tenements are liable to forfeiture. In accordance with the Act:

  • Prospecting Licences are liable to forfeiture under Section 96(2) (ba)
  • Exploration Licences are liable to forfeiture under Section 63A (ba)
  • Mining Leases are liable to forfeiture under Section 82(1) (g), and
  • Retention Licences are liable to forfeiture under Section 70K (ba). If a combined mineral exploration report on a tenement group is not submitted as required, then each individual tenement in the combined group will be liable to forfeiture 60 days after the anniversary of the date of that tenement.

Release of Reports Mineral Exploration Reports held by the Department for 5 years may be released to the public, under Regulation 96(4) of the Mining Act; though a person may apply to DMIRS to keep the reports confidential. Further details about the process are contained in this link Release of Mineral Exploration Reports. Note that DMIRS did once advise of the release of any reports; however, now DMIRS only posts on its website the release of the reports. Therefore, if you require the annual reports to remain confidential it is advisable to diarise the annual release date of the reports to enable an objection to be lodged.