The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has reiterated its staunch opposition to cash bidding for exploration tenures.

 

The council opposes the practice for two major reasons, arguing that it disadvantages small resources companies, and favours ‘the big end of town’, while also undermining community confidence in the State Government’s role as the steward of the state’s resources.

 

The Council has urged the Queensland Government to follow in NSW’s footsteps by abandoning the policy, when NSW Resources Minister, Chris Hartcher, said that it compromised fair process.

 

“Nowhere has QRC spoken about corruption in connection to this policy but we do have grave concerns about the implications for community confidence. We have spoken of the implied ‘moral hazard’ of governments accepting large payments from a proponent at the exploration stage and then being expected to adjudicate objectively on a subsequent application from that same proponent for production tenure,” The Council’s Chief Executive, Michael Roche said in a statement.

 

Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Andrew Cripps, slammed the claims, describing them as ludicrous and misleading.

 

“The Newman Government is proposing a competitive cash tender process for the allocation of exploration rights for some of Queensland’s best coal and petroleum and gas reserves,” said Mr Cripps.

 

“Companies will still have to prove they have the capacity to develop the resources in a timely fashion, and will need to demonstrate their commitment by participating in a cash bidding process for that land.

 

“The system will ensure all Queenslanders enjoy a financial return from the development of the state’s most valuable resource areas and will discourage the past practice of companies ‘warehousing’ tenure.”