Mining and Energy

Bankside Chambers members practise across the mining and energy generation sector in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, with experience appearing before courts, local authorities, local authorities. The practice spans minerals licensing, extraction regulation, environmental compliance and renewable energy development. These areas frequently intersect, and navigating them well requires an understanding of not only each individual statutory framework but how they operate in relation to one another.

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A Complex Regulatory Landscape
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Mining and energy development and transmission projects in New Zealand commonly engage multiple regulatory regimes at once, and the obligations they create do not operate independently. The primary frameworks include the:

• Crown Minerals Act 1991, which governs the licensing of minerals permits and sets the conditions under which minerals may be explored and extracted.
• Resource Management Act 1991, which addresses the environmental effects of extraction and energy generation and transmission activities, including resource consent requirements affecting land, water and coastal environments, in the inshore environment.
• Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2011, which applies to activities conducted in New Zealand's offshore zone beyond the 12 nautical mile territorial sea.
• The Offshore Renewable Energy Act 2026, which regulates the development of offshore renewable energy activities (including wind, wave, tidal, solar, and others) in both the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone; and
• Conservation Act 1987 and Reserves Act 1977, which apply where minerals or other natural resources are located within areas of conservation significance or public access value.

Our members have experience advising across the full regulatory picture, including matters where multiple Acts apply to a single project or decision.

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Appearing Before Courts and Regulatory Bodies

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Bankside members appear before the full range of forums that hear mining and energy matters, including the Environment Court, local authority hearings, Boards of Inquºiry convened for proposals of national significance, and the higher courts. 
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Renewable Energy
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Bankside members act for clients operating in the renewable energy sector, securing resource consents and providing advice for wind farms, tidal power projects, solar farms, geothermal power stations and hydro development. Renewable energy development raises distinct legal questions from those that arise in minerals and extraction work, including regulatory approvals for generation and transmission infrastructure, land access arrangements, resource consent requirements and emissions trading obligations.
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Our members advise and represent renewable energy clients across these matters. Where a project involves resource management questions, our practice in this area connects directly with our broader expertise in environment and resource management law.