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Speaker 1: Now the Mineral's Royalty Bill of twenty twenty four, which

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Speaker 1: proposed us to establish a new mineral royalties regime for

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Speaker 1: mineral projects established in the Northern Territory after the first

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Speaker 1: of July this year, is set to be well, it's

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Speaker 1: set to pass through Parliament as I understand it this week.

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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line to tell us a little

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Speaker 1: bit more, is Cat Tillmouth or Catherine Tillmouth, I should say,

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Speaker 1: the head of the Minerals Council here in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. Yes, Cat or Catherine, I'll go back here.

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Speaker 1: Well, I thought i'd better formalize it there, Catherine. Make

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Speaker 1: sure that you know that I was calling you your

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Speaker 1: full name, your grown up name. Kat Tell me what

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Speaker 1: is this change going to see in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: So since twenty eighteen, the Northern Territory has had a

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Speaker 2: hybrid mixed system for the royalties for mining. So that

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Speaker 2: was like a bit of profit, a bit of ad

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Speaker 2: valorum pretty much what came out the highest, and it

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Speaker 2: has been noted to be quite complicated. It meant that

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Speaker 2: companies would have to run almost like two sets of

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Speaker 2: books to keep the calculations, and it was a disincentive

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Speaker 2: for investment as well because the rates and some of

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Speaker 2: the deductions weren't competitive to the other jurisdictions. So what

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Speaker 2: the government is doing is passing a new bill today.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully that changes us over to an advolorm scheme which

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Speaker 2: is much simpler and more competitive with the rest of Australia,

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Speaker 2: so that when a company is making dear decision should

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Speaker 2: I open a mine on a resource in the Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory or West Australia Queensland, they actually have a really

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Speaker 2: good look at the Northern Territory because we're as competitive

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Speaker 2: as everyone else. I not.

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Speaker 1: This is something that the Mineral's Council really has been

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Speaker 1: calling for for quite a while, haven't you.

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Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, And look it was yet brought in in

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Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, and we did say then that it would

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Speaker 2: be complicated, it would create uncertainty and it would reduce investment,

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Speaker 2: which it has done. I think I've said to you

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Speaker 2: a number of times the Northern Territory has so few

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Speaker 2: minds compared to a jurisdiction like Western Australia, and it's

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Speaker 2: got nothing to do with the quality of the resources underground.

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Speaker 2: It is about the framework and making it attractive for investors. So,

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Speaker 2: you know, one of the biggest bodies of work that

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Speaker 2: we've done recently is the Minerals Development Task Force Report,

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Speaker 2: which identified all of the things that investors are saying

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Speaker 2: as to why they are not opening minds in the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: The thing we saw the last week, sorry, was that

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory budget is so reliant on the onlining

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Speaker 2: without mining, Like there isn't the money coming into the

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Speaker 2: economy to pay for schools, hospitals, roads and all of

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Speaker 2: the things that Territorians need. So the government really needs

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Speaker 2: to make sure that the mining industry is strong for

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Speaker 2: the NT.

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Speaker 1: I mean it must be frustrating then for the likes

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Speaker 1: of the Minerals Council. When you take that into account,

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Speaker 1: you look at the budget, you look at how heavy

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Speaker 1: a debty is at the moment, and you look at

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Speaker 1: the you know, what the mining industry can do and

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Speaker 1: what the minerals industry can do, but you know, we've

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Speaker 1: just we've it feels that we've come to quite a standstill.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely does get frustrating. Governments are not known

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Speaker 2: to be the quickest moving beast definitely takes them a

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Speaker 2: while to see the point of view of the experts

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Speaker 2: in the field and then to actually action it. Like

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Speaker 2: we've seen the volatility that the government has seen in

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Speaker 2: the royalties. We had Cycloneagan almost to a road show

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Speaker 2: of every mining site in the Northern Territory, you know

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Speaker 2: jem comcath Vermine and Newmont and that bit of water.

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Speaker 2: Really it costs the bottom line for the economy. So

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Speaker 2: without the government focusing on building that you know, stockpile

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Speaker 2: of mines that they can draw on for fun, we're

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Speaker 2: really at risk.

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Speaker 1: Kat are there different operators that are to get to

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory and get moving on different projects.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's a really important change, the royalties change, but

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Speaker 2: it is only one part of the puzzle as well.

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Speaker 2: We all know these the businesses they need to be

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Speaker 2: financially viable in the Northern Territory's got an infrastructure deficit.

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Speaker 2: A lot of these minds are in the middle of

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Speaker 2: nowhere supplying chain issues and getting them from the mind

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Speaker 2: sight to market. You know the uniqueness of all of

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Speaker 2: our environmental, native title and land rights processes, so all

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Speaker 2: of those things, adding them all up together, the royalties

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Speaker 2: are hopefully going to make it much more attractive, much

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Speaker 2: more viable, because we've got still nineteen I think projects

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Speaker 2: in various stages of approvals and financial investment decisions depending

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Speaker 2: ready to come online. So it's all of these things

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Speaker 2: that we need to help them really get over the line.

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Speaker 2: Bring in the jobs, bring in the money for the economy.

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Speaker 2: Me and a lot of them are critical minerals, so

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Speaker 2: they're going to go towards electric vehicles, solar panels and

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Speaker 2: all the things that we need for the clean energy future.

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Speaker 1: Nineteen projects. From your perspective as the head of the

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Speaker 1: Minerals Council here in the Northern Territory, if we're able

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Speaker 1: to get those nineteen projects going, what will it mean

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Speaker 1: to the Northern Territory's economy.

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Speaker 2: It would almost be worst case scenario. We wouldn't have

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Speaker 2: enough people to work at all.

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Speaker 1: Well, that would be worse. I mean, that would be difficult.

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Speaker 1: But that's a good problem to have, right.

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Speaker 2: A good problem to have, definitely. But you're looking at

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Speaker 2: you know, billions of dollars in capex to be invested,

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Speaker 2: and it's not just those direct jobs as in I

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Speaker 2: have a job at X Mining company, it's that person

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Speaker 2: moves into a reach and their kids go to school,

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Speaker 2: they're buying food at the supermarket, all of those sorts

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Speaker 2: of things. So the direct spend and indirect spend is

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Speaker 2: it's I couldn't even put a number to it, really,

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Speaker 2: is it?

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Speaker 1: Like, are you hearing from some of those some of

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Speaker 1: those different companies that do want to get going in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. Are you hearing that they are quite

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Speaker 1: frustrated with how long it can take to get started.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that, you know, all of the

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Speaker 1: environmental approvals and native title approvals and all that sort

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Speaker 1: of thing shouldn't happen. They absolutely should happen, but it

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Speaker 1: does seem like sometimes an organization can get to the

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Speaker 1: point like where they have had all of that approved,

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Speaker 1: but then you sort of have other people come in

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Speaker 1: and go, well, hang on, we're not happy with where

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Speaker 1: this mind sight's going to be all the way in

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Speaker 1: which it's going to operate.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's definitely a lot of frustration. The timelines are

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Speaker 2: quite extensive. It's not a unique thing for the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 2: but we do take it almost that bit further. There

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Speaker 2: are things that could be done that. You know, you've

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Speaker 2: got approvals within departments, faster turnarounds, and what we've seen

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Speaker 2: recently is a huge to reform for the legislation, So

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Speaker 2: that in itself creates uncertainty. And then you know, questioning

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Speaker 2: time frame. Any business wants to know how long it's

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Speaker 2: going to take and how much it's going to cost,

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Speaker 2: and we haven't had clear definitions of either of those

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Speaker 2: for quite a while.

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Speaker 1: Well, kat let's wait and see what this legislative change

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Speaker 1: is going to mean. Do you anticipate that you know

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Speaker 1: that it will sort of start to see some of

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Speaker 1: you know, some things start to get moving.

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Speaker 2: Look, I do there have been a lot of companies

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Speaker 2: that have been saying that this has been an issue

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Speaker 2: for quite some time. You know, they're going out to

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Speaker 2: the to the market, they're looking for investors, they need

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Speaker 2: to get a return on that investment, and this makes

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Speaker 2: things just a little bit more financially viable for them.

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Speaker 1: Well, Catherine Tillmouth, the head of the Minerals Council here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory, the executive director, really appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Thanks so much for chatting with us,

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Speaker 1: and no doubt we'll hear a little bit more as

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Speaker 1: the as this legislation passes through Parliament.

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Speaker 2: Sorry, thanks Katie, thank you,