Land tenure for mining

Land tenure affects the process for granting a mineral title.

Types of land tenure

There are 3 main types of land tenure.

In the NT, most land outside of townships is Aboriginal land or pastoral land. Both types of land can be subject to native title rights.

If the land is freehold, your application must follow the process under the Mineral Titles Act 2010.

If the land is Aboriginal land, your application must follow the process under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.

If the land is pastoral land, it's subject to native title.

Your application must follow the process under the Native Title Act 1993.

Some areas of land are reserved, which means exploration, extraction and mining is prohibited.

Find out more about reserved land.

An application for a title may be made over any land in the NT by following the relevant procedures set out in the legislation.

In some cases, there may be a valid reason for an application to be refused over certain areas.

For more information, contact the Mines branch.