The Aus­tralian resource indus­try amounts to an esti­mat­ed 75% of the country’s exports, con­tributes sig­nif­i­cant­ly to Australia’s work­force and is a lead­ing influ­ence on Australia’s stan­dard of liv­ing, ris­ing incomes and flour­ish­ing economy.

We have deep indus­try expe­ri­ence which allows us to sup­port clients across the whole life-cycle of a min­ing oper­a­tion. Our team can advise you on any aspect of your project from explo­ration and approvals to social licence issues, M&A, financ­ing, mine devel­op­ment and con­struc­tion, process plants, infra­struc­ture, ship­ping, mar­ket­ing, pro­duc­tiv­i­ty improve­ments and mine care and main­te­nance or closure. 

Our Team

Portrait photograph of Matthew Cole
Matthew Cole
Partner
Portrait photograph of David Clarke
David Clarke
Partner
Portrait photograph of Michael Byrnes
Michael Byrnes
Partner

We know the com­mer­cial pri­or­i­ties in min­ing indus­try invest­ment, eco­nom­ic and tight project time­lines require strate­gic insight. Help­ing you to plan for the next stage of the devel­op­ment in a com­plex reg­u­la­to­ry and busi­ness envi­ron­ment is crit­i­cal. Under­stand­ing the con­text in which our clients oper­ate enables us to pro­vide advice at the strate­gic and oper­a­tional levels.

NSW has many projects in the pipeline that, once under­way, will sig­nif­i­cant­ly boost the state’s eco­nom­ic and employ­ment per­for­mance. In par­tic­u­lar, NSW is rich in min­er­als such as coal, gold, cop­per, sil­ver, lead, zinc, cobalt and lithi­um. Major coal deposits are found across the whole Syd­ney-Gunnedah Basin. While the Cow­al open pit gold mine in the Cen­tral West­ern Plains region is the biggest mine in NSW.

Our full project life cycle expe­ri­ence includes:

  • Plan­ning approvals
  • Financ­ing
  • Green­field & brown­field projects
  • Com­mu­ni­ty social licenses
  • Site recla­ma­tion
  • Waste reg­u­la­tions
  • Cli­mate change and ESG 

Use­ful links:

No mat­ter how rou­tine or com­plex the busi­ness issues you face, Mer­i­tas’ net­work of law firms is with you every step of the way. Mar­ket-lead­ing firms offer a full range of legal ser­vices, which enable you to do busi­ness any­where. Wise coun­sel and prac­ti­cal solu­tions are just a phone call or e‑mail away. Dis­cov­er the breadth and depth of the prac­tice and indus­try sec­tor capa­bil­i­ties avail­able to you through Meritas.

Publications

Nav­i­gat­ing Pri­or­i­ty Dis­putes under the PPSR: Path­ways and con­sid­er­a­tions for Secured Parties

The Per­son­al Prop­er­ty Secu­ri­ties Reg­is­ter (PPSR) serves as a vital frame­work for estab­lish­ing and pro­tect­ing inter­ests in per­son­al prop­er­ty in Aus­tralia…

‘Tis the Sea­son to Avoid Fol­ly: Work­place Christ­mas Par­ties (2024 Edition)

It’s that time of year. The ​‘Sil­ly Sea­son’. For many organ­i­sa­tions, the offi­cial employ­er Christ­mas par­ty is imminent.The start­ing point for…

The Effec­tive End of Pro­ba­tion­ary Periods?

Back­groundEven though the recent Fed­er­al Court judg­ment of Jus­tice Nicholas in Dab­boussy v Aus­tralian Fed­er­a­tion of Islam­ic Coun­cils [2024] FCA 107…

In the News

Fixed term employ­ment con­tracts and work­place Christ­mas par­ties, Michael Byrnes appeared on Nights with John Stan­ley on 2GB and 4BC on 4 Decem­ber 2024 to discuss

Fixed term employ­ment con­tracts and work­place Christ­mas par­ties, Michael Byrnes appeared on Nights with John Stan­ley on 2GB and 4BC…

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“What should you do if an employ­ee secret­ly records a sen­si­tive con­ver­sa­tion at work?”, pub­lished in HRM Online on 27 Novem­ber 2024

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“What should you do if an employ­ee secret­ly records a sen­si­tive con­ver­sa­tion at work?”, pub­lished…

Swaab sup­ports Tour de Cure’s Spring Lunch

We were delight­ed to once again sup­port Tour de Cure’s Spring Lunch, at which around $900k was raised for can­cer…