New South Wales (NSW): exploration work program and expenditure rules
New South Wales has no minimum expenditure per unit or per km². Every exploration licence carries an approved work program as a condition, and the estimated spend in it is officially not a commitment. Compliance is judged on whether the program's exploration stages were achieved, not on dollars spent.
Checked against the regulator's guidance and the legislation on 25 September 2026. General information, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, and your licence conditions take priority, so confirm with the regulator before relying on a figure.
- Titles
- Exploration licence (EL) and assessment lease
- Regulator
- NSW Resources, part of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, with compliance by the NSW Resources Regulator
- Legislation
- Mining Act 1992 and Mining Regulation 2016
How the work program obligation works
- Every application must include a work program, and complying with the approved program is a condition of the licence. The program lists activities grouped into the regulator's five exploration stages, plus environmental and community activities.
- The program's estimated expenditure is an indicative estimate, not a commitment. It's used to judge whether you can fund the program.
- At renewal, performance is judged on whether the stage objectives were achieved. A normal 6-year first term is expected to complete stages 1 and 2.
Reporting and deadlines
| Report | Due | Lodged via |
|---|---|---|
| Annual activity report, part A (exploration report and data, including activity and spend figures) | Within 1 calendar month after each grant anniversary (30 days on some older titles) | Titles Management System (TMS) |
| Annual activity report, part B (environmental and rehabilitation compliance) | Within 1 calendar month after each grant anniversary | NSW Resources Regulator Portal |
| Partial relinquishment report | Within 1 month of notice | Titles Management System (TMS) |
| Final report | Within 1 month of cancellation or expiry | Titles Management System (TMS) |
What counts as expenditure
- Sampling, analysis and interpretation
- Accommodation, travel, equipment and fuel
- Staff and contractor wages
- Rehabilitation such as sealing drill holes
- Report and data preparation
- Native title management and compensation, environmental approvals and plans, and community consultation (but not compensation payments to the community)
Doesn't count
- Application fees, the annual administrative levy and annual rental fees
- Security deposits
- General overheads: agent fees, office rent, training, office equipment, software, admin staff and insurance
Exemptions and variations
- Changing the work program needs prior approval, and is only expected after an unforeseen, significant cut in activity that drops a planned stage or changes the objectives. Apply by the end of the second-last year of the term (for a 6-year term, by the end of year 4). Processing takes about 2 months.
- No amendment is needed to add activities, swap methods, reach a higher stage, deal with short land-access delays, or change environmental or community activities.
- At renewal, accepted reasons for not finishing the program are native title, protracted land access, unforeseen events, reallocation within a project group, and commercial deals (stage 3 or higher only). Not normally accepted: failing to raise capital in stages 1–2 (whatever commodity prices are doing), or being unable to get qualified staff or equipment such as a drill rig without reasonable justification.
What happens if you fall short
- Not completing the program without a valid excuse breaches the work program condition. It can lead to renewal being refused and referral to the Resources Regulator.
- Breaching a condition is a ground for cancelling the licence, and can support a suspension notice.
- Not lodging required reports without a reasonable excuse is an offence, as is giving false or misleading information.
Term, renewal and relinquishment
- Terms are up to 6 years, and renewals too. Lodge the renewal application in the 3 months before expiry.
- There's no fixed percentage to give up. At renewal you can keep only the area genuinely required for the new work program, unless special circumstances apply.
Recent changes
- 1 March 2023: the renewals policy took effect, allowing only the area genuinely required to be renewed.
- 28 March 2024: version 5.0 of the exploration reporting guide was released, including the expenditure categories above.
- Older guidance calls the regulator MEG (Mining, Exploration and Geoscience) or the Department of Regional NSW.
Sources
Tracking this across several tenements
Tenement Track keeps each tenement's commitment, spend to date and anniversary date in one register, so a shortfall shows up while there's still time to act on it.