Taxes, royalties and export controls on minerals and petroleum

Companies that extract mineral and petroleum resources must pay taxes and royalties. Companies who export minerals must meet requirements.

The Australian Government and state and territory governments own Australia’s mineral and petroleum resources on behalf of the community.

Taxes and royalties ensures the community receives an adequate return on the use of Australia’s non-renewable resources. 

Taxing resources projects

The Australian Government and state and territory governments share responsibility for taxing resources projects.

The Australian Government:

The Minister for Resources is responsible for issuing combination certificates for petroleum projects under the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Assessment Act 1987.

Applying for combination certificates for petroleum projects  

Combining licences avoids the need to assign costs and revenues to individual production licences.

Collecting mineral and petroleum royalties

We work with the Western Australia Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety to collect petroleum royalties from the North West Shelf project. The project is a joint venture between 6 major international companies and is one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas producers.

We also collect royalties for the Commonwealth from:

The state and territory governments collect royalties for both onshore and offshore mineral and petroleum projects in their coastal waters. There is no common royalty regime in place across all states and territories.

Ensuring exports meet requirements 

Applying to export rough diamonds

If you intend to export rough diamonds from Australia, you must meet the requirements of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).

Applying to export uranium and controlled ores

How to apply for permission to export uranium oxide concentrate or uranium ore concentrate, controlled ores, and other nuclear materials.

More information

Read how the Australian Taxation Office administers all tax regimes, including company tax, the PRRT and crude oil excise
Learn about the Treasury's responsibility for developing the Australian Government’s policy on resource-specific taxation

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