Australia: Landholder Rights to Subsoil Resources

Introduction

In examining rights to subsoil resources in Australia, there are two separate elements which must be considered. The first is the ownership of those resources, noting the distinction between ownership of land, minerals, hydrocarbons, and other subsoil resources, and the second are the tenements, approvals, etc. which are required to extract those subsoil resources. This entry deals with the first element. It is important to note that ownership of minerals by a landholder in Australia does not normally (there are some limited exceptions in WA) give any right or exclusivity for the exploitation of those minerals, nor any right of veto or ability to determine whom may extract those minerals, beyond that of an ordinary landholder. Private mineral ownership generally entails merely a right to benefit from royalties, compensation, etc. accruing from the extraction of the resource (Mackay 2013).

It should be noted that the commonwealth structure of Australia means there are...