Regulators update December 2025

Regulatory system changes

Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2025

Overview

On 5 August, the Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2025 became law. Secondary legislation came into force on 25 September. The key changes introduced were:

• an extension of the confidentiality period for data collected by speculative prospectors
• changes to petroleum decommissioning requirements
• the reintroduction of the term “promote” into the purpose statement
• changes in the way petroleum exploration permits are allocated
• the introduction of a new Tier 3 minerals permit

Open market competitive process

We have received and publicly notified two petroleum permit applications since the open market competitive process started on 25 September:

• An application for an area in the Offshore Taranaki Basin. The relevant period of competition opened 16 October and closes on 16 January 2026.
• An application for an area in the Waikato Basin. The relevant period of competition opened 11 December and closes on 11 March 2026.

Details of active applications:

Applications under the open market competitive process

Requirements when access arrangements or permits expires

The Act also introduced changes to requirements for permit holders when access arrangements or permits expire. Permit holders must now:

• inform Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) when an access arrangement that has been notified to them ends
• send a copy to LINZ when they enter into an access arrangement of more than 6 months’ duration
• notify LINZ when a permit expires (if it was granted before 21 August 2003 and was not a petroleum permit)
• notify the Māori Land Court if a permit expires that relates to Māori land (if it was granted on or after 21 August 2003 or was granted before 21 August 2003 and was not a petroleum permit).

Crown Minerals Act 1991 — Land Information New Zealand

Forms updates

We’ve updated our forms to reflect new regulatory requirements. Using the correct version is important as older forms may not meet current obligations. This could lead to delays in processing or incomplete submissions.

Please make sure you download the latest versions from our website, especially if you’ve previously saved a copy.

Minerals permits

Petroleum permits

Decommissioning guidelines

Petroleum permit and licence holders must fully fund and carry out safe decommissioning of wells and infrastructure. They must also have a Minister-approved financial security arrangement in place to guarantee they can meet these obligations.

To support permit and licence holders to understand these requirements, in October, we published new guidelines:

Financial capability and financial securities guidelines

New Tier 3 minerals permit

A new Tier 3 permit category has been introduced from 25 September for small-scale gold mining (often referred to as hobby or recreational mining).

The new permits allow for gold mining in riverbeds or beach sand. They’re intended to streamline the application process and make it easier to meet regulatory and reporting requirements, ensuring regulatory oversight matches the scale of mining activity.

Apply for a Tier 3 mining permit

Earlier petroleum Annual Summary Report due date

Changes have been made to the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Regulations 2007 to bring forward the due date for Annual Summary Reports for petroleum permit and licence holders. These are now due 1 March each year, with the next report due 1 March 2026.

Changes to the petroleum Annual Summary Report due date

Annual reports

Operational notices

Submitting minerals Annual Summary Reports online

If you held a permit that was active between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, you are required to send us an Annual Summary Report by 31 March 2026, even if no activity took place during the calendar year.

The easiest way is to submit through our online permitting system. This tailors report questions to your permit type, includes guidance, and lets you link authorised contacts to your permits, save progress and access reports anytime.

Register using your RealMe account:

Manage your permits online

For more information on submitting your annual summary report, including guidance:

Annual summary reports

Permitting timeframes

We’ve recently published our processing timeframe performance for the April to June and July to September quarters:

Permit processing quarterly performance

We’ve also updated our guidance on expected average permitting timeframes to reflect performance:

Timeframes for applications enabled by the Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2025

Online system updates

Between September and November, updates have been made to improve the stability of our webmaps and online permitting systems. This lays the foundations for improved performance and functionality ahead.

This meant that at times our systems were unavailable due to planned maintenance. We appreciate your patience through these periods.

The Minerals Permit Webmap, Petroleum Permit Webmap and Geodata Map also now have updated web addresses:

New web addresses for Permit Webmaps and Geodata Map

Minimum mining rates letters

Before the end of 2025, some minerals permit holders will receive an automated letter advising they did not meet their work programme’s minimum mining rate for 2024.

This letter educates permit holders on how well they are meeting key conditions of their permits.

If your permit includes a minimum mining rate and you fail to meet it each calendar year, you will be considered non-compliant. This may affect future applications or lead to enforcement action. If there were valid reasons for not meeting your obligations, you can apply to change your minimum mining rate.

Apply to change the conditions of your permit

If you have any questions, or need help finding your permit certificate, please email us.

nzpam@mbie.govt.nz

Holiday season closure

New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals will be closed over the holiday season. Some services will be unavailable during this time.

Office Hours

Our office will close at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, 24 December 2025, and reopen on Monday, 5 January 2026.

Any inquiries received after 4:30 PM on Tuesday, 23 December 2025 will be processed from Tuesday, 6 January 2026.

Application Submission Timeframe

Our official non-working day period runs from 20 December 2025 to 15 January 2026.

You can still submit applications during this time, but confirmation of acceptance may not occur until after this period.

Service Centre Availability

The Service Centre will be closed from 5:00 PM Wednesday, 24 December 2025 and reopens Monday, 5 January 2026.

Online System Availability

Our online permitting system, permit webmaps, and exploration database are available through the holiday period.

Policy changes

Earth Sciences critical minerals

Earth Sciences New Zealand has recently published a comprehensive resource on New Zealand’s critical minerals, explaining what they are, where they occur, and why they matter for our future.

Critical Minerals in New Zealand — GNS Science

$200 Million Gas Security Fund

On 6 November, the Government announced the final scope and terms of the $200 million Gas Security Fund designed to boost New Zealand’s constrained gas supply and reduce perceptions of sovereign risk.

The fund will enable a diverse range of investments to accelerate or increase the volume of gas to market in the short-, medium- and long-term such as drilling in existing fields, upgrading production facilities, exploring new reserves, or supporting gas storage projects. Investment decisions will be made jointly by the Minister for Resources and the Associate Minister of Finance, supported by an independent advisory panel.

The fund will be administered by MBIE through our Kānoa / Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit – they will call for expressions of interest shortly.

Widened scope for co-investment in new gas — Beehive.govt.nz

Minerals royalty regime review

On 26 November, MBIE issued a tender for expert advice and economic modelling to inform a review of New Zealand’s royalty regime for minerals.  Decisions on any changes to minerals royalty settings will not be made before the 2026 General Election. The findings of the review will inform MBIE’s policy advice to the 2026 to 2029 elected Government.

Upcoming review of New Zealand’s royalty regime for minerals

Sector engagement

Sector engagement on the West Coast of New Zealand

We attended the West Coast Minerals Forum in Runanga on 30 October where we joined industry representatives and participants from across the country. Our Manager, Operational Policy and Regulatory Practice presented on some of the recent regulatory changes to the Crown Minerals Act and our permit processing activity.

Annual Review Meetings

We've concluded our Annual Review Meetings for 2025. Over the course of these meetings, we engaged with eight permit holders (seven petroleum and one minerals), covering general and technical discussions.

Annual Review Meetings are designed to provide an opportunity to:

• discuss permit holders’ progress against work programmes
• discuss their engagement with iwi
• facilitate general engagement with permit holders and other invited regulatory agencies such as WorkSafe, Department of Conservation and local and regional councils.

Together with regulatory agency partners, we want to thank all permit holders for the effort put into preparing their presentations. The meetings were insightful and highly beneficial.

How we engage with the sector ahead

We want to provide relevant, timely information to the sector. This Regulator’s Update is one of the ways we share information, alongside in-person engagement, webinars, annual review meetings, and direct contact channels.

We’d like to hear what works for you and ideas for how we communicate and engage with the sector ahead. If you have feedback or suggestions please let us know by clicking the below link or emailing us.

Let us know your feedback

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season and look forward to working with you again in 2026.