On 16 October 2009, the Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, Stephen Robertson MP, announced that the draft Cooper Creek Water Resource Plan will be released alongside a wild river declaration proposal for the same area.

The map attached shows the area subject to the draft Water Resource Plan, which is also likely to be the future wild river area (map courtesy of the Department of Environment and Resource Management).

The purpose of a Water Resource Plan is to provide for the sustainable management of water in the plan area. While mining activities will generally be permitted within areas subject to a Water Resource Plan, tenement holders may be affected as to the amount of water that will be allocated to mining activities under the plan.

If a wild river area is declared over the Cooper Creek catchment, tenement holders will need to comply with more severe restrictions regarding access and the type of mining activities that may be carried out. In addition to the restrictions outlined in the relevant wild river declaration, the legislation provides the following restrictions:

• mining activities must not be carried out on the surface of the land in the wild river high preservation area or in a nominated waterway;
• exploration activities may only be carried out using low impact activities for areas within the wild river high preservation area (other than watercourses and lakes), and only using limited hand sampling techniques for watercourses and lakes in the wild river high preservation area and nominated waterways; and
• if a mining tenement, other than an exploration permit or mining lease, is granted over a wild river area, the wild river high preservation area (including nominated waterways in that area) is excluded from the area of the tenement.

Petroleum legislation does not specifically address wild river areas. However, petroleum activities will need to comply with any restrictions or requirements under the relevant declaration.

In addition to the Cooper Creek catchment area, the Government also expects to release wild river declaration proposals for the Georgina River and Diamantina River systems in 2011.

These wild river proposals cover a significant portion of Queensland and will have a major, and potentially adverse, impact on mining activities. Miners therefore need to be aware of any onerous restrictions that may impact both current and future mining projects. A wild river declaration proposal will involve a public consultation period, and any affected parties are encouraged to lodge submissions with the Minister.

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