FAQs

As a resource authority holder or a landholder you can start a case by filing a Form 1 Originating Application  in the Land Court Registry and serving a copy on the other party. For more information about filing and serving documents, visit the General Information section of this website.

If you are a resource authority holder or plan to be, and you applied for the grant or renewal of a mining claim or mining lease before 25 October 2018, the Department of Resources must refer it to the Court if, within a certain period, the parties have been unable to reach agreement about the compensation that you must pay the landholder.

The Court requires you to provide certain documents when the case starts. These are called accompanying documents. The Court requires different documents depending on the type of case. For more information, go to Land Court Practice Direction 3 of 2019.

When a resource authority holder starts a case, they must attach the accompanying documents with the Form 1. When landowner starts the case, or if the case is referred to the Court by the Department of Resources, the resource authority holder must file the accompanying documents within 10 days of the case starting in the Land Court.

If a person has applied for a mining claim or mining lease, and has not reached agreement with the landholder about what compensation the resource authority holder should pay because of the impacts of the mining lease or mining claim, the Department of Resources must refer the issue to the Land Court to decide. You can get a copy of the documents filed by the Department of Resources by contacting the Land Court Registry.

For information about contacting the Land Court, visit the General Information section of this website.

You can reach agreement at any time before the Court makes a decision. The Court encourages parties to use a number of services to try and end their dispute by agreement. For more information, click here.

Where the dispute has been referred to the Court by the DNRME

If you make an agreement, you must lodge the Compensation Agreement the with Department of Resources. Once the Department has accepted the agreement, the parties can finalise the Land Court proceedings by sending a notice in writing to the Court registry.

Where the dispute was started by a party filing a Form 1

If the dispute is about a mining claim or mining lease, you must lodge the Compensation Agreement with the Department of Resources. If the dispute is about a CCA for petroleum, gas, CSG or mining exploration activities, you must give the relevant Land Titles Registrar a copy of the Compensation Agreement or the Conduct and Compensation. Once you have provided the document to the relevant government agency, you can:

• ask the Court to finalise the agreement with orders;
• file a Form 18 Notice of Withdrawal or Discontinuance ; or
• at the next review, ask the Court for an order dismissing the application.

The Court will always list a case for review. The first review provides an opportunity for the parties to tell the Court whether any agreement has been reached, if the parties want more time to negotiate, or that there are good reasons why a review should be postponed (e.g. because of weather conditions or farming commitments).

The parties should contact the Court as soon as practicable, advising why they want to postpone the review, what steps they are taking to progress the dispute to resolution, and when they expect to be in a position to update the Court.  All emails to the Court must be copied to the other parties to the dispute. If the Court is satisfied that the parties are working towards an agreement, it may adjourn a review “on the papers” (that is, without the parties needing to attend the review).

The Court will always list the case for further review. This ensures the parties are complying with the Court’s directions and are moving toward a resolution of the dispute. In the time between the first review and any further reviews, the Court expects all parties to use the time to actively negotiate and resolve the dispute, finalise an agreement, or continue negotiations.

Yes: read “Do I need to have a lawyer” on the General Information page of this website for more information.

The Court must look at a number of factors when deciding compensation and/or conditions.

The Court must consider all or any of the following “compensatable effects” relating to the eligible claimant’s land:

• deprivation of possession of its surface;
• diminution of its value;
• diminution of the use made or that may be made of the land or any improvement on it;
• severance of any part of the land from other parts of the land or from other land that the eligible claimant owns;
• any cost, damage or loss arising from the carrying out of activities under the resource authority on the land;
• consequential damages the eligible claimant incurs because of a matter mentioned in paragraph above.

The Court must look at a number of factors when deciding compensation and/or conditions.

The Court must consider:

• deprivation of possession of the surface of land of the owner;
• diminution of the value of the land of the owner or any improvements thereon;
• diminution of the use made or which may be made of the land of the owner or any improvements thereon;
• severance of any part of the land from other parts thereof or from other land of the owner;
• any surface rights of access;
• all loss or expense that arises as a consequence of the grant or renewal of the mining lease.

Where it is necessary for the owner of land to obtain replacement land of a similar productivity, nature and area or resettle themselves or relocate their livestock and other chattels on other parts of their land or on the replacement land, all reasonable costs incurred or likely to be incurred by the owner in obtaining replacement land, the owner’s resettlement and the relocation of the owner’s livestock or other chattels as at the date of the assessment shall be considered;

• if the owner of land proves that the status and use currently being made (prior to the application for the grant of the mining lease) of certain land is such that a premium should be applied—an appropriate amount of compensation may be determined;
• loss that arises may include loss of profits to the owner calculated by comparison of the usage being made of land prior to the lodgement of the relevant application for the grant of a mining lease and the usage that could be made of that land after the grant;
• an additional amount shall be determined to reflect the compulsory nature of action taken under this part which amount, together with any amount determined pursuant to paragraph (c), shall be not less than 10% of the aggregate amount determined.

If the dispute is about a CCA for petroleum, gas, CSG and mining exploration activities, the Court has power to impose conditions about access arrangements.

If the dispute is about a mining lease or mining claim, the Court only has power to fix the amount of compensation and how and when it must be paid. However, if you can come to an agreement with the resource authority holder it can include the way in which the mining activities are undertaken, not only the amount and timing of the payments. If you want to know more about resolving cases by agreement, click here.

For information about what you need to do to prepare for a hearing, visit the General Information section of this website.

The resource authority holder is liable to pay to the landowner costs necessarily and reasonably incurred in negotiating and preparing to enter or seeking to enter into a CCA with a resource authority holder. This relates to the costs of the statutory negotiation process which happens before a party can apply to the Land Court to decide a CCA. Those costs are accounting, legal, valuation and agronomist’s costs but do not include the cost of the ADR facilitator.

The costs of conducting the proceedings in the Court are covered by general principles. For more information, visit the General Information section of this website.

The costs of conducting the case in the Court are covered by general principles. For more information, visit the General Information section of this website, which includes information about costs under the heading “What happens at a hearing?”.

You can appeal the Court’s decision to the Land Appeal Court . Different time limits apply, depending on the type of case.

For appeals against decisions about mining claims and mining leases, you must file a notice of appeal within 20 business days of the date of the decision.

For appeals about CCAs for petroleum, gas, CSG and mining exploration activities, you must file a notice of appeal within 42 days of the date of the decision.

For more information about appeals, click here.

For CCAs for petroleum, gas, CSG and mining exploration activities

If the party has breached a CCA for petroleum, gas, CSG and mining exploration activities, either party can ask the Land Access Ombudsman to help resolve the dispute. The Land Access Ombudsman may recommend ADR, including by the Land Court ADR Panel.

Either party can also apply to the Court about an alleged breach. For information about how to apply to the Court, visit the General Information section of this website.

For mining claims and mining leases either party can apply to the Court about an alleged breach. For information about how to apply to the Court, visit the General Information section of this website.

For CCAs for petroleum, gas, CSG and mining exploration activities

The Land Court can vary conditions of a CCA. In summary, there must be a material change in circumstances, and the change must be material to the agreement about, or determination of compensation for, any compensatable effect suffered by the landowner as a result of the authorised activities.

For mining claims and mining leases

The Court may review compensation agreed or determined if, since the agreement or determination, there has been a material change in circumstances for the mining lease. Before making the decision, the Court must have regard to:

• the original compensation;
• whether the applicant has attempted to mediate or negotiate an amendment agreement; and
• any change in the matters the court must consider since the original compensation was agreed to or determined.