Advanced activity requirements

Advanced activities are those that have more than a minor impact on the landholder's land use activities or business activities. They can include:

• levelling of drilling pads and digging sumps
• earthworks associated with pipeline installation
• bulk sampling
• open trenching or costeaning with an excavator
• vegetation clear-felling
• constructing an exploration camp, concrete pad, sewage or water treatment facility or fuel dump
• geophysical surveying with physical clearing
• carrying out a seismic survey using explosives
• constructing a track or access road
• changing a fence line.

Before entering private land and starting advanced activities, resource companies must negotiate and discuss access and compensation issues with landholders. The process is outlined below.

Who this applies to

The following requirements apply when resource companies enter private land within the area of their resource authority. It applies to all resource authority holders except holders of prospecting permits, mining claims or mining leases. This is because alternative land access requirements apply to prospecting permits and to mining claims and mining leases.

A special process applies to gain entry to private land outside the area of the resource authority and to restricted land around certain buildings, structures and areas.

Land access for advanced activities

Before a resource company can enter private land to carry out advanced activities, they generally must have a legally binding agreement with the landholder. This can be either:

• a conduct and compensation agreement
• a deferral agreement
• or
• an opt-out agreement.

However, the resource company can also enter private land to conduct advanced activities in cases where:

• the resource company and landholder cannot agree to the terms of a conduct and compensation agreement and the matter is referred to the Land Court for determination
  or
• the parties have agreed to enter an arbitration process.

Entry notice requirements

Resource companies must provide landholders with an entry notice unless an exception applies, for example, where the conduct and compensation agreement or deferral agreement includes alternative arrangements.

Landholders will also not receive entry notices if they have entered into an opt-out agreement, provided the resource company with a written waiver, or another valid exception applies.

If a conduct and compensation agreement has been referred to the Land Court, or the parties have agreed to enter an arbitration process, the resource company will still be required to provide a valid entry notice 10 business days before entry.

• Read about entry notice requirements.

Other land access requirements

Resource companies must comply with the mandatory conditions of the Land Access Code when carrying out authorised activities on a landholder's private land. These conditions cannot be altered or waived by agreement. All parties are encouraged to comply with the code's best practice recommendations.

Entry to restricted land around certain buildings, structures or areas requires the written consent of the landholder. This consent may be included as a term in an agreement.

Also consider...

• Find out about lodging land access notifications for coal and mineral activities and land access notifications for petroleum and gas activities.
• Download the Standard conduct and compensation agreement (DOCX, 123KB).
• Make an enquiry or complaint about land access.
• Read details about land access requirements in A guide to land access in Queensland (PDF, 1.8MB) .
• Learn how the Land Access Ombudsman can help if there's a dispute over a finalised conduct and compensation agreement.