Crown Minerals Act 1991
The Crown Minerals Act of 1991 promotes prospecting, exploration, and mining of Crown-owned minerals in New Zealand by providing for the efficient allocation of rights, the effective management and regulation of those rights, and a fair financial return to the Crown.
The Act establishes that the ownership by the Crown of all petroleum, gold, silver, and uranium, in addition to all minerals in the offshore Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) (Section 10). Other minerals may be privately or state-owned; mineral ownership is recorded by the office of the Registrar-General of Land and does not necessarily follow land ownership (Section 86).
The Act grants the relevant Minister with the authority to establish minerals programmes and accompanying regulation for different minerals that are consistent with the regulations of the Act. It also establishes guidelines and conditions for the consideration of applications, granting of permits, and changes in control of or interest in a permit. Section 42 grants the Minister the authority to require a survey of permitted land at any time.
Permit holders to keep detail records and reports regarding all prospecting, exploration, decommissioning, and post-decommissioning activities. Disclosure and publication of mineral resources and mineral production may be made at the discretion of the chief executive (Section 90).
The 2021 Crown Minerals (Decommissioning and Other Matters) Amendment Act obliges petroleum exploration and mining permit holders to carry decommissioning activities according to relevant environmental law and standards within set timeframes, and to record and report decommissioning plans, costs, and completion. At a minimum, the permit holder must remove petroleum infrastructure, plug and abandon wells, and undertake post-production site restoration. The Minister may exempt permit holders from part or all of the decommissioning requirements where they consider it appropriate (Section 89).
The 2023 Crown Minerals Amendment Act shifted the Act away from actively promoting mining toward a focus on managing mineral activities, removing the government’s former obligation to encourage fossil fuel exploration. It also strengthened the engagement between mining permit holders and indigenous Māori communities known as iwi and hapū, introducing a formal process for considering feedback and assessing an applicant’s previous engagement performance before permits are granted. Additional procedural updates adjust ministerial functions, permit allocation processes, and introduce new sections governing iwi/hapū feedback and annual engagement reporting.
On 5 August 2025, the 2025 Crown Minerals Amendment Act came into force, reversing the ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration and restoring the Act’s core purpose to promoting the exploration and mining of Crown-owned minerals. The amendment introduced a new Tier 3 permit class of mineral permitting designed for small-scale, recreational gold mining. It also reformed the decommissioning regime by introducing ministerial discretion over trailing liability, expanding flexibility around exemptions and financial securities, and allowing new methods for allocating petroleum permits beyond public tender. In addition, the amendment made other changes to the Act, including extending confidentiality periods for speculative prospectors and enabling Government Policy Statements on minerals and petroleum.
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