Do mining and resources need to maintain mining rehabilitation bonds + closure plans?

Maintain mining rehabilitation bonds + closure plans. Mine rehabilitation financial assurance is set by each state's mining law, not by a single national rule. New South Wales is the worked example here.

Trigger: Grant of an exploration or mining title, any increase in disturbed area, and the regulator's periodic reassessment of the deposit.

Rules Mate runs its applicability engine across 9 business structures and 6 size bands for each of the 35 industries it maps. For 34 of those industries the answer for "Maintain mining rehabilitation bonds + closure plans" is no. Mining & resources is one of the 1 where the answer is different: yes.

The deciding fact for mining and resources: Industry: Mining & resources.

About the industry: Mining operations subject to state mining safety regimes, NGER, and royalty obligations.

Compare a professional services (general) business with 6–19 employees structured as a Pty Ltd company: the obligation does not apply (Requires industry: Mining & resources).

Each cell is the engine's outcome for a business in mining & resources with that structure and size, assuming it sells to consumers and small businesses and holds customer contact details. "Check" means the obligation turns on a fact the industry does not settle.

When due

Deposit lodged as a condition of the title and topped up when the assessed amount is varied. For mining leases in NSW, a rehabilitation cost estimate is provided annually with the mine's forward program.

Evidence to keep

Rehabilitation cost estimate prepared with the current regulator tool and lodged through the Resources Portal; security deposit lodgement records and the title's deposit condition; annual forward program; disturbance mapping; rehabilitation completion and sign-off records supporting release of the deposit.

Maximum penalty

The security deposit is held so that rehabilitation costs fall on the deposit, not the State, if the title holder defaults on its rehabilitation obligations; it is returned only when rehabilitation is signed off. The NSW Resources Regulator is responsible for compliance and enforcement across the mining sector, including enforceable undertakings under the Mining Act

Regulator

Mining Warden NSW

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth (national)

• Comply with the respirable crystalline silica workplace exposure limit (0.05 mg/m³): Yes
• EPBC Act — assess + approve controlled actions affecting MNES: Only if
• Maintain Hazardous Chemicals Register + manifest (WHS Reg): Yes
• Notify + remediate contaminated land (state): Only if
• NSW mining safety obligations (Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Act: Yes
• Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act compliance: Only if
• All 18 answers for mining & resources