QUEENSLAND Gold R oyalties The Grant Thornton Discussion paper Queensland Gold R oyalty R ates was released by AMEC in early 2018 The paper argued that Queensland s high relative royalty rate is a disincentive to investment in Queensland and supports calls for a reduction in the gold royalty rate from 5 to 25 in line with other A ustralian jurisdictions The paper was presented to the Queensland Government and Opposition for consideration Budget Submission AMEC prepared a detailed PreBudget submission for the Queensland T reasurer and S tate Opposition and made several recommendations to improve the S tates resource potential AMEC reiterated the the necessity for an equitable Financial Assurance scheme removal of S tamp Duty for e xploration licence transfers a reduction in the Gold R oyalty rate and a commitment for ongoing funding for Collaborative Exploration Financial Assurance Framework and R ehabilitation R eform The reform of the Financial Assurance framework commenced in 2017 when the Government established a R esource Industry Advisory Committee AMEC promoted the views of e xplorers and junior miners in the design of the framework and subsequent Mineral and Energy R esources Financial Provisioning Bill which was passed in November 2018 In response to submissions from AMEC on the released discussion papers the then Department of Environment and Heritage Protection reviewed the Financial Assurance F A Calculator and work ed with industry to implement improvements This included developing a new separate section for standard Environmental A uthority holders Improving R esource Approval Efciency Prior to the last S tate election AMEC gained a commitment from the Qld government to review and improve the efciency and timeliness of resource and environmental authority approval processes including the reduction of duplication between assessing agencies As part of this review the Department of Natural R esources Mines and Energy DNRME commenced work to improve resource approval processes This issue was led by AMEC and is a great result for industry L and Access The DNRME Engagement and Compliance Unit consulted with AMEC in late 2018 on a project to provide greater assistance to small cap mineral e xplorers and miners in dealing with private land access issues Early scoping work was undertak en on several components including material for e xplorers on the land access framework an engagement strategy with e xplorers opportunities to provide facetoface information to e xplorers and information for landholders T enure R eform Bill Following on from a series of T enure R eform work shops with industry the DNRME met with AMEC and other stak eholders in the latter half of 2018 to discuss amendments to the Mineral R esources Act The amendments were designed to create greater fe xibility for e xploration The proposed amendments will provide the option for outcomesbased work programs more time before the frst relinquishment data for better e xploration and development investment decisions and a cap on the overall life of Exploration P ermits to ensure land turnover and encourage progression to production 18