Exploration industry wary tougher looming JORC disclosure changes are ‘unnecessarily’ complicated

Explorers will need to prove their discovery does actually have a “reasonable prospect” of becoming a mine and make sure they factor in ESG considerations under proposed changes to a longstanding mining code.

Industry is being sounded out for feedback on draft revisions to the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee code — which sets minimum disclosure standards to investors for exploration results and the calibre of a discovery’s mineral resource.

“Material” environmental, social and governance factors that could threaten a project’s development will need to be disclosed as part of the proposed changes, due to be rolled out in 2025 and last updated in 2012.

At an Association of Mining and Exploration Companies confab on Wednesday, Commonwealth policy director Neil Van Drunen said there had been some concerns raised by members about the higher costs posed by more ESG requirements.

He also said there was already a “lively debate” taking place over Nature Positive reforms, and suggested bringing ESG factors into the JORC code “would complicate an already complicated document”.

“As a non-geologist, I would suggest defining geology is challenging enough, and perhaps JORC is not placed for the ESG debate on regulations. I’d also suggest adding ESG to JORC would unnecessarily complicate an already complicated document,” he said.

Another key change will be to tighten up the wording for project assessments by switching ‘eventual’ to ‘reasonable prospects for economic extraction’.

“The definition of eventual was something that was very grey, and I think some people took liberties in the past,” BDO global head of natural resources Sherif Andrawes told The West Australian.

“The JORC code is there to give information to investors and your stakeholders on the on the status of a mineral project, and the more transparency, the clearer things are, the better.”

Hypothetically he said a project such as Jabiluka — the Northern Territory uranium deposit blocked from development by the Federal Government on advice of Traditional Owners — could have struggled in its early days under the new code.

“Something like Jabiluka for example, in Northern Territory where the Indigenous landowners have said it’s never going to be developed. You could say under the current code eventually, that might change, perhaps. But under the new proposed code is it reasonable to say that? The answer is probably no,” he said.

“So possibly, under the new code, it might not be classified as a resource.”