Western Australian Current Regulations Western Australian Current Regulations In these
regulations —
mining operations —
(a)
means any method of working by which the earth or any rock structure, coal
seam, stone, fluid, or mineral bearing substance is disturbed, removed,
washed, sifted, crushed, leached, roasted, floated, distilled, evaporated,
smelted, refined, sintered, pelletised, or dealt with for the purpose of
obtaining any mineral or rock from it for commercial purposes or for
subsequent use in industry, whether it has been previously disturbed or not;
and
(b)
includes the following —
(i)
exploration operations;
(ii)
developmental and construction work associated with
opening up or operating a mine;
(iii)
the removal and disposal of overburden or waste or
residues by mechanical or other means and the stacking, depositing, storage,
and treatment of any substance considered to contain any mineral;
(iv)
the operation of blast furnaces and direct reduction
furnaces;
(v)
the operation of privately‑owned railways (other
than a railway to which the Rail Safety National Law (WA) Act 2015
applies) to transport ore or other mining products, or to provide related
services;
(vi)
the transport of ore or other mining products that takes
place on a road that is not a road as defined in the
Road Traffic (Administration) Act 2008 section 4;
(vii)
the crushing, screening, sorting, stacking, loading and
handling of ore or other mining products at any rail or road terminal or any
loading or transhipment points, including seaports;
(viii)
the operation of any support facilities on the minesite,
including mine administration offices, workshops and services buildings;
(ix)
borefields remote from the minesite but an integral part
of the mining operation;
(x)
operations by means of which salt or other evaporites are
harvested;
(xi)
operations by means of which any mineral is recovered
from the sea or sea bed or a natural water supply;
(xii)
the operation of residential facilities and recreational
facilities and the ground used for that purpose, if those facilities are
located on a mining tenement and are used solely in connection with mining
operations;
(xiii)
the operation of any project which is declared by the
Governor to be a mining operation under the
Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994 section 6(1);
(xiv)
operations undertaken for the environmental
rehabilitation of the minesite during production operations and after their
completion;
(xv)
operations for the care, security and maintenance of a
mine and plant at the mine undertaken during any period when production or
development operations at the mine are suspended;
(xvi)
operations undertaken to leave a mine safe to be closed;
but
(c) does
not include the following —
(i)
an operation that would otherwise fall within
paragraph (b)(vii) if the operation is carried out by a port authority at
the port (as those terms are defined in the Port Authorities Act 1999
section 3(1)) that the authority controls or manages;
(ii)
steel making plants;
(iii)
rolling mills;
(iv)
facilities for the manufacture of goods from mining
products;
(v)
residential facilities or recreational facilities and the
ground used for that purpose, if those facilities are not located on a mining
tenement and directly associated with mining operations;
(vi)
sand, gravel, limestone or rock excavation carried out by
or for any State agency or instrumentality or any local government for the use
or disposition by that agency, instrumentality or local government;
(vii)
excavation activities on private land by and for the use
of the owner of the land;
(viii)
a place that is not at a mine where
externally‑controlled plant at the mine is operated.