Background

The Small Miners' ILUA Project was initiated by the State to develop ILUAs specifically for tenement applications lodged by small miners under the Mineral Resources Act 1989. Small miners are defined as individuals or companies other than publicly listed companies. Generally, the area of land covered by their applications must be less than 50 hectares. The ILUAs relate to areas historically used for small-scale operations.

The ILUAs set out land access arrangements for exploration and mining activities, but still respect and protect native title rights and indigenous cultural heritage. In order to be granted a tenement under the ILUA, tenement applicants opt into the ILUA by signing a deed attached to the ILUA. The native title conditions outlined in the ILUA then become conditions of tenure and can be enforced under processes outlined in the Mineral Resources Act 1989.

The benefit of the ILUA is that individual negotiations between small miners and native title groups are minimised, therefore providing a more timely and less costly means of obtaining a grant.

Status/Progress

The Government has recently concluded the very successful Special Small-Scale Mining Project. The project represents four years of successful negotiations between Traditional Owner groups, the Miners Associations, the Aboriginal Representative Land Councils and the State to bring about practical and effective growth of the industry in the regions.

The project has proven particularly important within regional communities as small-scale mining operations are often significant contributors to the local economy enabling the opportunity to build ongoing relationships involving goodwill and cooperation between Traditional Owners, miners and the communities.

Successful ILUAs have been concluded in the opal mining regions of Winton, Yowah and Quilpie in South West Queensland, the Gemfield mining region of Emerald in Central Queensland, and the gold mining regions of Mareeba, Mt Garnett, Croydon and Georgetown. Collectively, these agreements cover an area of land approximately 166,847 square kilometres, enabling the total grant of approximately 1755 mining tenements to date, with processing on-going.

ILUAs concluded in relation to the following areas of Queensland include:

• 7 registered ILUA’s totalling an area of approximately 70,690 square klms in South-West Queensland;
• 2 ILUAs totalling an area of approximately 619 square klms were registered in the central Queensland gemfields near Emerald;
• 2 registered ILUAs with a total area of approximately 64,063 square klms in the Croydon and Georgetown gold fields in the Gulf Country; and
• 3 ILUAs registered, and 2 nearing registration totalling approximately 31,475 square klms in the Palmer River gold fields and the Mareeba - Tinaroo areas.

The State greatly appreciates the assistance and co-operation of the native title groups, Land Councils and miners’ associations in achieving the above outcomes.