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. 

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

Dis­missal and Dam­ages for Psy­chi­atric Injury: A Con­trac­tu­al Trap

In the recent deci­sion of Elisha v Vision Aus­tralia Ltd [2024] HCA 50 the High Court of Aus­tralia held that dam­ages for…

Valen­tine’s Day in the Work­place (2025 Edition)

Valen­tine’s Day, the cel­e­bra­tion of romance and roman­tic love, takes place annu­al­ly on Feb­ru­ary 14.While many assid­u­ous­ly avoid what they con­sid­er…

The Employ­ment Real­i­ty of TV Fame (2025 Edition)

Real­i­ty tele­vi­sion shows thrive on intrigue and dra­ma. A key com­po­nent of suc­cess­ful real­i­ty TV shows is the con­tes­tant view­ers love…

In the News

Michael Byrnes appeared on Break­fast with Ron Wil­son on 2SM on 19 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss the NSW rail dis­pute and the cur­rent appli­ca­tion before the FWC

Michael Byrnes appeared on Break­fast with Ron Wil­son on 2SM on 19 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss the NSW rail dis­pute and…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Break­fast with Ron Wil­son on 2SM on 13 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss legal issues relat­ed to Valen­tine’s Day in the workplace

Michael Byrnes appeared on Break­fast with Ron Wil­son on 2SM on 13 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss legal issues relat­ed to…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Nights with John Stan­ley on 2GB and 4BC on 11 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss legal issues relat­ed to Valen­tine’s Day in the workplace

Michael Byrnes appeared on Nights with John Stan­ley on 2GB and 4BC on 11 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss legal issues…