Community and stakeholder information about exploration

We aim to provide timely and meaningful engagement with communities who are, or may be, affected by exploration and mining activities.

Notifying communities of upcoming exploration tenders

We provide directly affected landholders and other key stakeholders – including native title representatives, local governments and key community groups – with advance notice of land that will be released via competitive tender for potential future resource exploration, including information to help them understand the process.

The information provided includes:

• an explanation of the Queensland Exploration Program (QEP) and its purpose
• the intersect where a landholder's property is located within a QEP tender area and landholders' rights
• information about the QEP tender process, approval process and land access, as well as notification of the opening of tender processes (gazettal of each 'call for tenders')
• obligations of exploration companies
• where to find more information.

Achieving coexistence between industry and landholders or other impacted stakeholders is important to ensure the future of the resources sector. To support this, the advance notices include information about the recently released coexistence principles. These principles outline government's expectations for behaviours between resource companies and landholders, and aim to support mutually beneficial relationships between all parties.

The coexistence principles are part of the Land Access Code.

Notifying communities of tender process outcomes

Following the competitive tender process, stakeholders are advised about the tender outcome and if the tender is awarded, who has been appointed as the preferred tenderer for each exploration tender area.

The successful tenderer will be required to go through an application process for a relevant resource authority, including first meeting environmental obligations and addressing native title requirements. It is only once a resource authority has been granted that on-ground activity may commence, and then only once land access arrangements have been made.