I couldn't get to the bottom of this story, but as I understand...

I couldn't get to the bottom of this story, but as I understand it the Zeehan Council cannot charge rates for a mining lease, the mining lease is issued by the state and a mining company pays the state government an annual fee for mining leases and then royalties become payable when in production. The mine itself is outside the local council-gazetted boundaries anyway, so I would have told them to eff right off as well!