Land usage figures for the Queensland resources sector have been collated to establish exactly how much of the Queensland land mass the sector uses. This was achieved by calculating the amount of land disturbance caused by resource projects currently operating in Queensland (see resource operations) as well as well heads for the proposed CSG-LNG projects. Collectively, these projects represent approximately 95 percent of the total and future value of production of the Queensland resources sector.
The newly available data clearly shows the resources sector as using only small parcels of Queensland’s total land mass—occupying just 0.09 percent of the state.
To get a perspective of how this fits in with other uses for land in Queensland, it is important to compare it with the top five land uses.
By transposing this data with the top five land uses in the state, we can gain a broader understanding of how much the sector offers, while taking up so little.
Using the latest available data, figure 15 shows the proportional uses and locations of the top five land use categories in Queensland. The top five land uses include grazing and natural vegetation, nature conservation, cropping, residual native vegetation and defence, and production forestry. ‘Other’, which is not land use per se includes utilities, residential and manufacturing land usages among others.
Using state government land-use data and map as a base, the QRC overlaid onto the map the current location of the operations of the Queensland resources sector as outlined in 'resources operations'. Unlike the five top land uses, the resource operations does not attempt to show the sector's land use area, but more where the projects are located.
The 0.09 percent figure reflects the land disturbance of the current operations as outlined in 'resource operations' as well the land use of the current wellheads of the emerging CSG-LNG sector in the Surat Basin.
Figure 20: Queensland resource sector land disturbance and comparison to the top six other land uses
Based on or contains data provided by the state of Queensland (Department of Environment and Resource Management) [2010]. In consideration of the state permitting use of this data you acknowledge and agree that the state gives no warranty in relation to the data (including accuracy, reliability, completeness, currency or suitability) and accepts no liability (including without limitation, liability in negligence) for any loss, damage or costs (including consequential damage) relating to any use of the data. Data must not be used for direct marketing or be used in breach of the privacy laws.
Defining land disturbance
The term ‘land disturbance’ is just that—the exact amount of land physically disturbed by resource operations that cannot be used right now for other purposes. As a cautionary note, these figures are a snapshot in time.
A company’s land disturbance tally doesn’t necessarily mean resource related-operations are currently taking place on every hectare of ‘land disturbed’. It may simply mean, for example, that some of the land classified as ‘disturbed’ is under care and maintenance, or in the process of rehabilitation.
Land disturbance refers to operations on the ground and not the form of tenure. Land disturbance is the land being worked and is not the same as the area under a production lease (PLs for petroleum and gas), mining development lease (MDLs) or mining lease (MLs).
Land disturbance figures represent the amount of land being used by resource sector operations at this time.
Although, the area of production tenures (PLs, MDLs and MLs) is a useful measurement tool for its own purposes, they can not be used for the purpose of identifying how much land the resources sector is actually using. Tenures simply define the boundaries within which companies are allowed to operate. They do not show how much the company is actually using, how much it plans to use, and how much it is not allowed to use (eg sometimes resource companies are refused ‘surface rights’ to significant areas within tenure thereby preventing mining activity).
Land disturbance data focuses on resource operations, what is happening now; and not exploration activity, which is searching for the resources for tomorrow. For every resource development, 'around 1000 greenfield exploration prospects must be investigated'1. Exploration is the process of sorting the wheat from the chaff, winnowing out the good prospects across a broad area.
Statements about the resource industry 'blanketing the state with applications for exploration tenure' are misleading. Multiple and overlapping exploration tenures are regularly granted, so figures about the total area of Queensland subject to exploration often double-count the same country. Within any exploration tenure, the actual area of disturbance is miniscule.
The legal obligation to rehabilitate
Resources companies have a legal obligation to progressively return disturbed land to an agreed final land use upon the cessation of extraction activities.
An agreed final land use could be, for example, a return to grazing or a pre-European settlement environment. To obtain legal release from a mining site, a company must rehabilitate it to the agreed standard and to the satisfaction of the Queensland Government.
This legally binding environmental duty of care is supplemented by a QRC member commitment to ‘leading practice’ environmental management. That means constantly raising the bar on minimum regulatory requirements a commitment taken very seriously by QRC members.
As a fail-safe for the people of Queensland, every company currently engaged in active resource operations under the Mineral Resources Act – regardless of size or type, must provide a ‘financial assurance’.
This is in the form of cash, bank guarantee or insurance bond, payable to the Queensland Government in the unlikely event a company fails to meet its rehabilitation obligations as a result of financial collapse or mine abandonment.
At present, the total financial assurance held by the state government for resources operations in Queensland is more than $1 billion.
This equates to the aggregated value of the cost to rehabilitate the 0.09 percent of land disturbed by Queensland mining operations. It also guarantees that the people of Queensland do not carry the cost of rehabilitating and maintaining the environment disturbed by these operations.
With its large financial benefits, its minimal land use and built-in financial guarantees, the resources sector remains an absolute positive sum arrangement for the people of Queensland.
1. See QRC exploration http://www.qrc.org.au/_dbase_upl/exploraion2020vision_document.pdf