Finding an Australian Mining Lawyer

The Australian mining laws governing the mining sector are complex to say the least. The benefits of partnering with a mining law specialist for your Australian and international mining operations are extensive. All Australian mining companies can benefit from the legal services offered by Australia’s best mining lawyers.

A mining lawyer can assist your mining company to obtain approval for and lawfully undertake your envisioned mineral exploration projects. They can ensure that you are in compliance with legislative requirements and any mining agreements are established in your best interests..

They can also act as the liaison between your mining company, contractors, Government and other stakeholders, ensuring negotiations have the greatest likelihood of a desirable outcome.

Whether you need assistance with coal mining law, gold mining law, diamond mining law, copper mining law, iron ore mining law, bauxite mining law, uranium mining law, or other types of mining, to recruit expert legal aid is to increase your likelihood of success and avoid unnecessary risk.

Whether you are looking for assistance with the contractual or compliance side of operations, recruitment of a mining lawyer with legal expertise in the field will aid your success and avoid any unnecessary risk. However, not all mining lawyers are created equal. When deciding upon a mining lawyer the following points should be taken into consideration. the following points.

Does This Mining Lawyer Service Your State And Area?

In ideal circumstances, your mining lawyer will have expertise and experience in multiple States, with offices or staff in these States to assist in the territory in which you operate.

The best mining lawyers in Australia have widespread national representation, ensuring that they are available when you need them and that they are intimately familiar with State-based legislation and processes.

For example, Hetherington has offices in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney (click here for precise location details) and provide assistance to clients operating in NSW, Perth, Queensland and South Australia. Our mining lawyers are intimately familiar with the differing compliance obligations and legislation  governing the different States.

Do They Offer a Wide Range Of Mining Law Legal Services?

The best mining lawyers can manage all legal aspects of your operation. This is beneficial for numerous reasons.

Firstly, it allows you one point of contact. Business is always more efficient and cost effective when you are dealing with one specialist, rather than two or three or more.

Secondly, mining lawyers who are familiar with the entirety of your program of work, mine work health and safety, tenement compliance and other operational facets will be able to take both a macro and micro view of your legal standing. They will be able to integrate and synthesise all the information surrounding your operations, identifying new risks and opportunities that those with a narrower focus would miss.

Investigate whether mining lawyers or mining environmental consultants or tenement management companies you are looking to onboard offer the following services:

• Tenement management. Tenements are central to all exploration and mining operations. The best mining lawyers will specialise in tenement management and will be able to ensure that your tenure remains secure, allowing the continuation of your envisioned projects.
• Environmental compliance and environmental approvals for mining. Increasingly in the present era, environmental considerations are being codified into State and National mining legislation and social licence considerations.
• Establishing land access agreements.
• Establishing Native Title agreements and working towards mutually beneficial outcomes in cases of Aboriginal Heritage issues.
• It is critical that mining operations remain compliant with the agreed terms and conditions of the issued approvals, agreements and the relevant legislation. A mining lawyer should be able to help implement mechanisms that guarantee compliance and advise how to protect the compliance of a mining concern on operational and corporate levels.
• Financial aspects of mining, from contracts to investment.
• Development, screening and optimisation of contracts and terms and conditions.
• Negotiation of varied agreement types, including compensation agreements and joint venture agreements.
• Refinement and submission of your applications with the relevant mining authority.
• Resolution of tenement disputes, including representation within the Warden’s court.
• Optimisation of mine work health and safety, and its governance.
• Objections made under the mining act.
• Due diligence and VALMIN reporting.

Do They Have Extensive Experience Servicing The Industry?

You will be able to tell fairly quickly whether a company is a generalist lawyer, or a lawyer specialising in Australian mining. To gauge whether a company regularly engages with industry and clients, you can also consider perusing their website and their social media platforms, such as LinkedIn.

Talk With a Mining Consultant

Find out more about Hetherington’s wide-ranging services, including Hetherington Tenements, Hetherington Legal, and Hetherington Environmental services, by browsing our website or meeting our team.

Reach out to Hetherington to talk with a consultant about how we can support your mining corporation. Contact us here:

• Sydney office: (02) 9967 4844, sydney@hemts.com.au
• Perth office: (08) 9228 9977, perth@hemts.com.au

Brisbane office: (07) 3236 1768, brisbane@hemtsqld.com.au