Miners warn supreme court decision could cost industry millions

The Shire of Mount Magnet in WA has won an appeal giving it the right to charge rates on occupied crown land.

The decision has flipped a 40-year-old understanding that Local Governments are unable to levy rates on Miscellaneous Licences.

Some industry stakeholders worry that the decision by the WA Supreme Court to uphold the appeal in the Shire of Mount Magnet v Atlantic Vanadium 2025 could open the door to a massive financial hit on WA’s resources sector.

According to the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) the decision paves the way for councils to lift rates in an area they were previously unable to.

“If implemented across WA, it is conservatively estimated this legal re-interpretation will cost the mining and exploration sector over $50m per annum,” AMEC chief executive Warren Pearce said.

“And with Local Governments having the ability to seek rates back 5 years, the resources sector could be facing an extraordinary $250m additional rate bill this year.

“This decision by the Supreme Court to recast miscellaneous licences as an area that can be rated will badly hurt the resources sector in WA.

“This is completely unjustified.

“We are asking the WA Government to immediately step in and urgently legislate to preserve the longstanding principal that miscellaneous licences are not, and should not, be rated.”

“This was never the intention of the Parliament, and government must act to preserve the status quo.”

The WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy (WA CME) is also calling on the WA Government to act quickly to review the Local Government Act following the decision.

The decision comes just weeks after WA Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley prevented the Shire of Coolgardie from doubling rates on unimproved mining land and warned local government against treating the resources sector as a “cash cow”.

WA CME chief executive Rebecca Tomkinson says the determination opens the door to millions of dollars of additional imposts at a time many WA resources projects are already facing severe cost pressures.

“Not only are WA resources projects contending with lengthy assessment processes, rising energy bills and subdued commodity prices — they are now facing further cost uncertainties as a result of this decision,” she said.

“The potential ramifications of this [WA] Supreme Court decision carry significant financial implications for our sector.

“[WA] CME believes an urgent legislative review is necessary to ensure the ruling complies with both the letter and the spirt of the Local Government Act.”

Miscellaneous licences are generally used by resources operations to cover infrastructure such as access roads, power lines and mine site accommodation.

In many instances, miscellaneous licences sit on top of mining and exploration licences which are already a source of revenue for councils.

“This decision potentially opens the door to local governments being able to charge rates on the same land twice, an outcome that would be clearly unfair,” Ms Tomkinson said.

“The resources sector already contributes around a third of the state’s general government revenue and spent almost $90b in WA in FY24 – including payments to more than 100 councils.

“In a submission to the Federal Parliament’s Inquiry into Local Government Sustainability last year, [WA] CME raised concerns about unsustainable local government funding models.

“This is the latest example of councils targeting the resources sector in an attempt to balance their budgets.”