The Mining and Exploration Regulation System (MERS) was launched in July 2025 and is available at https://mers.dem.sa.gov.au/. The MERS portal replaces DEM’s Tenement Management System (TMS). All applications and lodgements (reports, returns, and more) detailed below, except those relating to certain private mines, must be submitted through the MERS Portal.
MERS provides a modern digital platform to better meet the needs of the community, industry, and the department by streamlining regulatory processes, improving user experience, and enabling efficient interactions between industry and government.
It manages the regulatory lifecycle for the resources sector in South Australia — from exploration, quarrying and mining licensing, and lease impact assessment and management, through to compliance, finance and royalties.
What you can do in the MERS Portal
Through the MERS portal you can:
- Create and submit new applications and lodgements
- View active tenements in My Dashboard
- Manage Access, including inviting additional employees and third-party representatives (such as Tenement Managers, Agents and Operators) and/or removing their access
- Receive email reminders and notifications
- Respond to a request for further information
- View upcoming and current reporting and return obligations
- Search the Mining Register
Applications and lodgements supported by MERS
MERS supports a range of exploration and production-related applications including:
- Exploration Licence applications
- Exploration Release Areas
- Mining Lease (Terms of Reference (TOR) and Defined Impact) applications
- MPEPRs (TOR and Defined Impacts)
- EPEPRs (Ongoing, Ongoing review, 12-month, 12-month review and Program Notifications)
- Miscellaneous Purposes Licence (MPL)
- Mineral Claim (MC)
Royalty Returns
- Royalty Returns for the 2025/12 period
Various forms for lodgement
- Change in Operations
- Change in Operations (Administrative)
- Form 12: Retention Lease
- Form 13A: Dealing – Transfer of a Mineral Tenement
- Form 13B: Dealing – Sublet
- Form 14A: Full Surrender of a Mineral Tenement
- Form 14B: Partial Surrender of a Mineral Tenement
- Form 15: Renewal of a Mining Tenement
- Form 16A: Registrable Dealing – Appointment of an Operator
- Form 16B: Registrable Dealing – Cessation of an Operator
- Form 16C: Agent Appointment/Cessation
- Form 16D: Registrable Dealing – Other Dealings
- Form 20A: Public Liability Insurance
- Form 20B: Amend Mining Register – Authorised Person / Registered Email / Registered Address
- Form 20C: Serve a Notice on a Designated Party
- Form 20D: Declaration – Body Corporate Relationship between landowner and Tenement Holder
- Form 20E: Other Documents
- Form 21E: Notice of Deemed Consent
- Form 24: Register Caveat
- Form 24B: Notification of the Withdrawal or Lapse of a Caveat
- Form 25A: Registration of a Mortgage
- Form 25B: Registration of the discharge of a Mortgage
- Form 27: Notice initiating negotiations with Native Title parties
- Form 28: Private Mine – Royalty Liability
- Form 29AEA: Amalgamated Expenditure Arrangement
- Form 29DIV: Mineral Exploration Licence Division
- Form 29EDV: Deferment and/or Variation of an EL/AEA Expenditure Return
- Form 29ERS: EL Retention Status
- Form 29ERS-WPC: EL Retention Status – Work Program Change
- Form 30: Registration of a Native Title Mining Agreement (or Assignment)
- Form 31: Joint Reporting
- Form 32: Airborne Survey Notification
- Form 33: Private Mine – Notification of 'relevant event'
- Form 34: Mine Operations Plan (MOP)
- Form 38: Leading Indicator Report
- Form 39: Initial Incident Report
- Form 40: Exploration Comprehensive Incident Report
- Form 40B: Mining Comprehensive Incident Report
- Form 41: Regulatory Action Responses
- Form 42: Tenement Amalgamation
- Form 43: Request to link two or more MERS accounts of Related Bodies Corporate
The submission of notices of entry for registration, including:
- Form 21A: Notify an Owner of Land of an intention to prospect or undertake low-impact operations on an Exploration Licence or a Mineral Claim
- Form 21B: Notify an Owner of Land of an intention to undertake advanced exploration operations
- Form 21C: Notify an Owner of Land of an intention to apply for a mining lease, retention lease or miscellaneous purposes licence
- Form 21D: Register a Land Access Agreement - Notify the Mining Registrar that a Land Access Agreement has been entered into between a Tenement Holder and an Owner of Land.
- Form 23C: Register an Exempt Land/Waiver Agreement - Notify the Mining Registrar that an Agreement has been entered into between a Tenement Holder and the holder of a benefit of an exemption
The lodgment of reports, including:
- Annual Technical Reports (single and joint reporting)
- Annual Activity Summaries
- Expenditure Returns and Expenditure Return for an Amalgamated Expenditure Agreement (AEA)
- Exploration and Mining Compliance Reports
MERS Support
The MERS Portal includes a support page with guidance to help stakeholders complete a variety of activities. The page provides a variety of support materials, including detailed instructions, user guides, frequently asked questions and recordings to assist new and existing users.
Contacting MERS Support
To ensure efficient and streamlined support, stakeholders are encouraged to follow the support pathways outlined below:
- Portal Support Request System (primary support method)
Raising MERS support requests is available via https://mers.dem.sa.gov.au/Support-Ticket/ and in the portal. Raising your support request this way helps DEM track and manage each request, allocate issues to the right teams, and identify common queries to inform targeted support materials. - MERS Support Line (urgent matters only) 08 8429 4450
Intended for time-sensitive and/or critical issues. This will be used to triage issues as a high priority. Support requests made via the support line will also be logged in DEM’s ticketing system, allowing DEM to track progress.
Private mines
Functionality for private mines is being progressively rolled out for a subset of tenement holders, in line with the Mining Act.
For queries regarding private mines contact DEM.privatemines@sa.gov.au
