The Northern Territory Government has announced that it will
impose a new levy on mining companies in order to fund the
rehabilitation of legacy mine sites.
According to a media release by the Minister for Mines and
Energy, a 1% levy will be imposed on all environmental
rehabilitation security bonds from October 2013. This is intended
to apply to new and existing environmental bonds.
Currently, environmental bonds can be required by the Minister
through the imposition of a condition on an operator's mining
authorisation under the Mining Management Act 2001 (NT). It is
current policy for the Department of Mines and Energy to require an
environmental bond for 100% of the cost of rehabilitating a mine
site. This is calculated based on the actual cost of rehabilitation
commensurate with the size, environmental risk and expected life of
a project.
