Conditions on mineral titles

There are common conditions which apply to all mineral titles in the Northern Territory (NT), as well as conditions specific to each type of licence, permit or authority.

General conditions

Once you have been granted a mineral title, you must do all of the following:

• actively carry out authorised activities in the title area
• comply with all the requirements of the Mineral Titles Act and other NT laws
• submit all required reports on time - you can be charged late fees if not done by the due date
• allow an authorised officer onto the title area, if requested.

You will also have to comply with any other conditions attached to your title when it is granted.

You must not do any of the following:

• disturb improvements or existing roads without the written consent of the landowner
• use water the landowner has artificially conserved without the owner's written permission eg a dam
• interfere with any animals owned by, or under the control of, the landowner.

A mineral title can be cancelled if you don't comply with these conditions.

Conditions specific to an exploration licence

When you are granted an exploration licence, you have to comply with all the general conditions listed above.

You must also comply with the conditions listed below which are specific to an exploration licence:

• give the owners or occupiers of the land in the licence area at least 14 days notice you are going to enter the property and start exploration work
• carry out the work described in the licence application's work program
• comply with expenditure requirements
• only extract or remove substances that have been authorised
• only sell minerals discovered in the title area if the sale has been approved by the minister.

Read the general grant conditions of an exploration licence.

General grant conditions of an exploration licence PDF (545.0 KB)
General grant conditions of an exploration licence DOCX (55.9 KB)

If exploration discovers a mineral of economic or scientific interest, or an underground water source, you must tell the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade within 28 days. Provide data and samples if necessary.

Protecting infrastructure

You must not do any of the following things that could damage public or private infrastructure:

• carry out blasting, or do anything else that would cause a disturbance, within 200m of an oil or gas pipeline
• do any exploration work within 25m of the Darwin to Adelaide optical fibre cable
• do any exploration work that would disturb the 34m wide easement for the Darwin to Katherine power transmission line
• do anything that would stop or delay the NT Power and Water Authority getting access to the easement and any equipment on it.

Exploration expenditure and reporting

You must report to the department every 12 months on how much you:

• spent on technical work in that year and
• intend to spend in the next year.

You can be charged late fees if the report is late, and your licence area can be reduced or cancelled if you don't meet your expenditure conditions 2 years in a row.

Read more about expenditure conditions and reporting.

Anyone who holds multiple exploration licences can apply for amalgamated expenditure reporting. Read more about amalgamated reporting.