In brief

  • The Federal Government released its response to Deloitte’s 2008 Review of Regulatory Efficiency in Uranium Mining in May 2010.  
  • The response indicates there may be major changes to the environmental regulation of uranium mining in Australia. These may facilitate the approvals process for uranium mining.

Introduction

In May 2010, the Federal Government released its response (Government Response) to Deloitte’s ‘Review of regulatory efficiency in uranium mining’ (December 2008) (Deloitte Review). The Deloitte Review made a number of recommendations which, if adopted, will constitute a major change in the environmental approval process for uranium mining in Australia.

The Deloitte Review and the Government’s Response

In 2006, the Uranium Industry Framework Steering Committee reported that Australia had no consistent national approach to the regulation of the mining industry and that this could impact the development of the industry. The current system of regulation was complex and included significant duplication and overlap.

Following this, the Department of Resources, Energy & Tourism (RET) in conjunction with the Department of Primary Industries and Resources Source Australia (PIRSA) and the Northern Territory Department of Resources (NTDoR) commissioned Deloitte to undertake a review of regulatory efficiency in the uranium industry. The government published its response to the Deloitte Review in May 2010, and has indicated a partial adoption of the recommendations and reform items.

Existing approval regulation

The uranium industry in Australia is regulated at both a Commonwealth and state level, and by a number of departments. Commonwealth environmental approvals are governed by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act).

Currently, uranium mining is included within the definition of ‘nuclear actions’ in the EPBC Act. Nuclear actions that have, will have, or are likely to have a significant impact on the environment are ‘controlled actions’, and require Commonwealth environmental approval. This is different to other mining operations, which only fall within the ambit of the EPBC Act if they are likely to have a significant impact on certain other matters of National Environmental Significance, such as listed threatened or migratory species or wetlands of international importance (Ramsar wetlands), Commonwealth marine areas or World or National heritage.

Importantly, the whole of the environment is relevant to an assessment of the impacts of a ‘nuclear action’, not just the impact on a particular species. At a state level, the approach to uranium mining is varied across jurisdictions. The Western Australian Government has recently removed the policy ban on uranium mining.

One of the recommendations contained in the Deloitte Review, which was not supported in the Government Response, was that the Commonwealth undertake negotiations with individual state governments aimed at eliminating any regulations and policies that prevent exploration or mining of uranium.

Proposed changes

The Deloitte Review made a number of recommendations. Relevantly:

  1. The EPBC Act should be amended to remove uranium mining and milling from the definition of ‘nuclear action’ so that uranium mines be treated like all other mining operations in Australia.  
  2. All Commonwealth environmental responsibilities in relation to uranium mining be consolidated into the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.  
  3. The Commonwealth continue to develop relationships with the states and territories so that a single assessment process is undertaken when an EPBC Act approval is required.

With respect to amending the EPBC Act, the government intends to deal with this recommendation in its response to the recent independent review of the EPBC Act and has ‘noted’ the recommendation.

The government supports environmental responsibilities for any new uranium mines, or extensions of existing mines, being managed under the EPBC Act. However, this does not include export permits.

The government has also noted that it currently has assessment bilateral agreements under the EPBC Act in place with all states and territories to streamline the environmental assessment process. They have also indicated an intention to improve consistency and standards in the regulation of uranium mining, and to this end have developed a best practice guide for in-situ recovery uranium mining, which is based on world best practice standards.

What this means for business

If the government does amend the EPBC Act so that uranium mining is excluded from the definition of a nuclear action, it should reduce some of the assessment burden associated with the approvals process for any new uranium mines in Australia. It may also send a further public message about the likelihood of uranium mining being an increasing part of the mining landscape in Australia.

However, environmental approvals are still largely the ambit of state and territory governments, and their approach to uranium mining remains varied.

It is likely that any new uranium mine proposal will still be required to undertake a lengthy approvals process at the state level (depending on state experience with uranium mining) as regulators come to terms with uranium specific challenges, as well as at the Commonwealth level. This will undoubtedly remain the case for some time.

Reform of radiation regulation is also anticipated in Western Australia to update regulatory requirements to reflect the most recent ARPANSA Codes. Some reforms have also already occurred in Western Australia to increase controls on uranium related exploration activities, through amendments to Part 16 of the Mines Safety and Inspection Regulations 1995 (WA).