Amendments to the Strategic Cropping Land Bill 2011 passed by the Queensland Parliament earlier this month may affect how resources companies operate under the legislation once it becomes law.

Following a public consultation process, the Strategic Cropping Land Bill 2011 was passed with amendments on 1 December 2011. The new legislation is expected to come into effect before the end of the year, or in early 2012.

Here, partner Martin Klapper and senior associate Gavin Batcheler outline amendments to the Bill that may directly affect resources companies in Queensland.

Key points

• The Strategic Cropping Land Bill 2011 was passed by the Queensland Parliament on 1 December 2011.
• The legislation contains several amendments from the proposed draft legislation presented to Parliament on 25 October 2011, and these amendments may directly affect resources companies.
• The amendments clarify the rules related to applications to identify strategic cropping land, operating under the Standard Conditions Code, and the transitional arrangements for certain expansion projects for existing mining leases.
• All resources companies operating in Queensland should be aware of these amendments.

Amendments to the Strategic Cropping Land Bill 2011

While the amendments made to the Bill are not extensive and mainly serve to clarify the drafting, there are several amendments that may directly affect Queensland's resources companies.

• The definition of who is an 'eligible person' for the purpose of submitting an application to identify strategic cropping land has been clarified to include any person who has made an application for a tender for a 'resource authority' (that is, a relevant permit or tenement application pursuant to the Act).
   
• A new section 112A has been inserted, which states that any person required to operate under the Standard Conditions Code in relation to a resource activity must first apply for a compliance certificate using the procedure set out in the new section. The applicant must meet the requirements under the proposed amendment in order to satisfy the Chief Executive that the resource activities will in fact comply with the Standard Conditions Code.
   
• The transitional provision in section 281 for expansion projects for existing mining leases has been amended to ensure that expansion projects under a joint venture or partnership agreement that were in existence on 23 August 2010 are eligible for the transitional arrangements under the Act. This is to ensure that where the mining lease, mineral development licence or exploration permit were held by different companies in the partnership or joint venture as at 23 August 2010, they are all included in the transitional arrangements.
  
  The amendment also recognises subsidiaries of a parent company which held the mining lease, mineral development licence or exploration permit on 23 August 2010 where the mining tenure was transferred after that date. This ensures that the transitional provisions will accommodate circumstances where the parent company held the applicable mining tenure and then went through a corporate restructure, and a subsidiary obtained the mining tenure as a result of the restructure.

Please click here to read more from HopgoodGanim about the proposed draft legislation introduced to Parliament on 25 October 2011, or click here to access the proposed legislation directly.

For more information on how the Strategic Cropping Land Bill 2011 will affect the resources industry, please contact HopgoodGanim's Resources and Energy practice.

Martin Klapper, Partner
Tel +61 7 3024 0325
m.klapper@hopgoodganim.com.au

Jonathan Fulcher, Partner
Tel +61 7 3024 0414
j.fulcher@hopgoodganim.com.au

Gavin Batcheler, Senior Associate
Tel +61 7 3024 0374
g.batcheler@hopgoodganim.com.au

To read other publications written by our Resources and Energy team, please click here.