Do the Security of Payment Acts Apply to Mining Activities?

It is now relatively clear that the “mining exclusion” in each Security of Payment Act in Australia is narrower than most had previously expected. In other words, the Security of Payment Acts are likely to apply to more activities in the mining industries (including oil and gas) than first thought.

Every Security of Payment Act in Australia contains exclusions for mining activities broadly along the same lines (Western Australia and the Northern Territory vary more significantly), namely (to adopt the wording from the Queensland Act):

• “the drilling for, or extraction of, oil or natural gas;” and
• “the extraction, whether by underground or surface working, of minerals, including tunnelling or boring, or constructing underground works, for that purpose.”