Role Title: Mining Act Research Intern - Environmental Compliance
Organisation: Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration
Internship Period: Summer (November - December)
Location: Mineral House - East Perth
The Compliance and Enforcement (C&E) Team have several options for a legislative research project for an intern.
This research project will involve reviewing the mining legislation from the other states (or similar countries) focused on a specific issue or matter that C&E are dealing with. The deliverables for the project would be an initial project plan scoping out the work to be done and then a report at the end. This report would document an assessment of the ways in which the other legislation deals with the matter in comparison to the WA Mining Act 1978, including recommendations or conclusions about how legislation/ regs/ guidelines could be changed to improve the management of this matter in WA. The options for research are:
1) Dead Tenure with outstanding obligations - focus on how other jurisdictions deal with unfulfilled environmental or closure obligations when tenure is no longer live (with comparison to the Mining Act 1978, Section 114B.)
2) Inspector Powers - focus on how other jurisdictions deal with inspector powers, particular in relation to sampling, with comparison to the WA Mining Act 1978 and Mining Regulations 1981
3) Timing for closure obligations - focus on how other jurisdictions deal with ‘timing’ element of SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant/ realistic and timebound). In the mining context, the life of the mine is driven by a number of unpredictable factors and therefore an exact date of ‘closure’ is difficult to define.
Provide trusted knowledge and stewardship of Western Australia’s resources to maximise value for current and future generations.