The Aus­tralian resource indus­try amounts to an esti­mat­ed 75% of the country’s exports, con­tributes sig­nif­i­cant­ly to Australia’s work­force and is a lead­ing influ­ence on Australia’s stan­dard of liv­ing, ris­ing incomes and flour­ish­ing economy.

We have deep indus­try expe­ri­ence which allows us to sup­port clients across the whole life-cycle of a min­ing oper­a­tion. Our team can advise you on any aspect of your project from explo­ration and approvals to social licence issues, M&A, financ­ing, mine devel­op­ment and con­struc­tion, process plants, infra­struc­ture, ship­ping, mar­ket­ing, pro­duc­tiv­i­ty improve­ments and mine care and main­te­nance or closure. 

We know the com­mer­cial pri­or­i­ties in min­ing indus­try invest­ment, eco­nom­ic and tight project time­lines require strate­gic insight. Help­ing you to plan for the next stage of the devel­op­ment in a com­plex reg­u­la­to­ry and busi­ness envi­ron­ment is crit­i­cal. Under­stand­ing the con­text in which our clients oper­ate enables us to pro­vide advice at the strate­gic and oper­a­tional levels.

NSW has many projects in the pipeline that, once under­way, will sig­nif­i­cant­ly boost the state’s eco­nom­ic and employ­ment per­for­mance. In par­tic­u­lar, NSW is rich in min­er­als such as coal, gold, cop­per, sil­ver, lead, zinc, cobalt and lithi­um. Major coal deposits are found across the whole Syd­ney-Gunnedah Basin. While the Cow­al open pit gold mine in the Cen­tral West­ern Plains region is the biggest mine in NSW.

Our full project life cycle expe­ri­ence includes:

  • Plan­ning approvals
  • Financ­ing
  • Green­field & brown­field projects
  • Com­mu­ni­ty social licenses
  • Site recla­ma­tion
  • Waste reg­u­la­tions
  • Cli­mate change and ESG 

Use­ful links:

No mat­ter how rou­tine or com­plex the busi­ness issues you face, Mer­i­tas’ net­work of law firms is with you every step of the way. Mar­ket-lead­ing firms offer a full range of legal ser­vices, which enable you to do busi­ness any­where. Wise coun­sel and prac­ti­cal solu­tions are just a phone call or e‑mail away. Dis­cov­er the breadth and depth of the prac­tice and indus­try sec­tor capa­bil­i­ties avail­able to you through Meritas.

Publications

Employ­ers Ban­ning AI Smart Glass­es from the Workplace

Can employ­ers ban AI smart glass­es at work? As wear­able AI tech­nol­o­gy grows, busi­ness­es are nav­i­gat­ing pri­va­cy, cyber­se­cu­ri­ty, work­place sur­veil­lance…

Land­lords Beware: New Tobac­co Laws Could Mean Heavy Fines and Even Gaol Time

How Do New Tobac­co Laws Affect Land­lords in NSW?This year the NSW State Gov­ern­ment is crack­ing down on the sale of…

When is entry into a lot with­out the lot own­er’s con­sent per­mit­ted to car­ry out repair work to com­mon prop­er­ty? When there is an emergency

When is entry into a lot with­out the lot own­er’s con­sent per­mit­ted to car­ry out repair work to com­mon prop­er­ty? When…

In the News

Michael Byrnes appeared on Break­fast with Tim Web­ster on 2SM on 22 Octo­ber 2026 to dis­cuss the use of smart glass­es in the work­place (from 1:24:00 to 1:28:30)

Can employ­ers ban AI smart glass­es in the work­place? As wear­able AI tech­nol­o­gy gains trac­tion, organ­i­sa­tions must bal­ance inno­va­tion with…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Nights with John Stan­ley on 2GB and 4BC on 19 Octo­ber 2026 to dis­cuss the use of smart glass­es in the work­place (from 1:06:35 to 1:10:10)

Can employ­ers ban AI smart glass­es at work? As wear­able AI tech­nol­o­gy grows, busi­ness­es are nav­i­gat­ing pri­va­cy, cyber­se­cu­ri­ty, work­place sur­veil­lance…

Press Release | New Spe­cial Coun­sel Appoint­ment — Suzy Whitty

With over ten years’ expe­ri­ence as a prac­tis­ing lawyer and a pri­or career in the Roy­al Aus­tralian Navy, Suzy is recog­nised for…