New coal and CSG overlapping tenure framework - what you need to know

Key Points:

Queensland's Common Provisions Act introduces "as of right grant" of coal and CSG production tenements.

The new Mineral and Energy Resources (Common Provisions) Act 2014 (Qld) (CP Act) was passed last week. Importantly amendments were made just prior to the passing of the Act.

Chapter 4 of the CP Act sets out a new regime for dealing with overlapping coal and coal seam gas (CSG) tenements. In this article, we'll set out in more detail the key aspects of the new regime, including the transitional arrangements for existing tenements.

Key concepts in the new regime for overlapping coal and coal seam gas tenements

The new regime is broadly consistent with the principles in the White Paper "Utilisation of Queensland's Coal and Coal Seam Gas Resources – a New Approach to Overlapping Tenure in Queensland" which contained the generally agreed industry position about reforms to the legislative framework.