Response to Duties Amendment (Farm-in Agreements) Bill 2021 second consultation draft

With a general decline in grassroots exploration observed globally, a lengthy average of seven years to convert a discovery into an operation and predicted halved output from existing Australian mines, CME welcomes and provides in-principal support to the Bill in its current format in facilitating exploration in WA. Since the former treasurer announced there would be amendments in 2018, progressing of the Bill provides much needed clarity and reduces the commercial and legal ambiguities of undertaking exploration in WA under a multi-stage farm-in arrangement.