Charge companies Provides a sustainable income Targets a limited pool of users – awarded an stream for GA. namely those companies that exploration permit respond positively to Government Does not discourage from the acreage solicitations and are successful. companies from bidding for release process acreage. Would require Commonwealth and State legislative change. Relatively simple to apply prospectively. Companies have not derived any financial benefit at this stage and there is no guarantee of future revenue stream. Tenuous link to information provided in terms of sending price signals on the appropriateness or quality of pre-competitive studies. Charge companies Provides a sustainable income Severely limits the pool of users when granted stream for GA. from which contribution sought. production licences Does not discourage This charge would require both companies from exploring Commonwealth and State acreage. legislative change. At this stage companies Negligible price signal effect and should have derived tangible tenuous connection to cost benefit from the GA work recovery: (especially if in a frontier long lead time between GA area). work and this stage (usually 10-30 years); Difficult to apply prospectively without creating legal representation as a sovereign risk for exploration non-tax relies on functional already underway. representation as a fee to access a known resource. Reasonably predictable number of licences and hence The charge could result in fee stability. marginally-profitable discoveries not proceeding to production. Companies have not yet derived any financial benefit at this stage.
Charge companies awarded an exploration permit from the acreage release process Provides a sustainable income stream for GA. Does not discourage companies from bidding for acreage. Relatively simple to apply prospectively. Targets a limited pool of users – namely those companies that respond positively to Government solicitations and are successful. Would require Commonwealth and State legislative change. Companies have not derived any financial benefit at this stage and there is no guarantee of future revenue stream. Tenuous link to information provided in terms of sending price signals on the appropriateness or quality of pre-competitive studies. Charge companies when granted production licences Provides a sustainable income stream for GA. Does not discourage companies from exploring acreage. At this stage companies should have derived tangible benefit from the GA work (especially if in a frontier area). Difficult to apply prospectively without creating sovereign risk for exploration already underway. Reasonably predictable number of licences and hence fee stability. Severely limits the pool of users from which contribution sought. This charge would require both Commonwealth and State legislative change. Negligible price signal effect and tenuous connection to cost recovery: long lead time between GA work and this stage (usually 10-30 years); legal representation as a non-tax relies on functional representation as a fee to access a known resource. The charge could result in marginally-profitable discoveries not proceeding to production. Companies have not yet derived any financial benefit at this stage.
strategic_review_ga.docx