Small Mining Operations Policy

Objectives

The Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration (DMPE) is responsible for regulating mineral exploration and development activities in Western Australia (WA) under the Mining Act. Small mining operators are a key part of the resources sector in WA, facilitating exploration and providing economic benefit to regional areas. The objective of this policy is to clearly outline DMPE’s expectations of the environmental regulatory requirements that apply to small mining operations under the Mining Act.

This document recognises the relatively low risk posed by these activities in general circumstances and reduces some of the regulatory and financial burden to support this sector while ensuring small mining operations are conducted in a responsible manner.

Scope

For the purpose of this policy, DMPE considers a small mining operation to be:

• Scraping and detecting.
• Dry blowing.
• Wet and dry gravity separation activities.
• The following activities for a total footprint for the mining operation of 10 hectares (ha) or less:
  • Mining excavations (such as pits, costeans, quarries, shafts, winzes, harvesting, dredging), leaching operations (such as Carbon-in-Pulp (CIP), Carbon-in-Leach (CIL), vat leach, and heap leach), - tailings treatment operations, crushing and screening, and any other appropriate mining or extraction activities.
  • Any construction activities incidental or conducive to the activities above including plant, tailings storage facilities and overburden stockpiles.

DMPE generally considers that a small mining operation does not involve the mining of uranium, mineral sands, or rare earth elements.

Where an operation does not meet the above criteria, approval to be classified as a small mining operation may be given by DMPE on a case-by-case basis. This approval must be received in writing.