Extractive. Industry poses a dilemma for the town planner. Towns and cities are built of quarry products and there are compelling economic reasons for locating construction materials sources as near as possible to the urban consumer. However, most extractive operations were originally opened in rural areas in an era when the adverse environmental effects of quarrying were of.less concern than they are today. Expanding urban areas have been permitted to envelop extractive operations with the consequence that reserves of materials have become sterilised and the amenity of the new residential areas has been adversely affected. Local planning authorities have adopted a restrictive policy to extractive industry and valuable mineral land has been used for other purposes. The basic equation that "one man's loss in amenity is another man's gain" has in general been weighted to reduce the adverse effects of extractive industry at the expense of providing adequate, reserves of materials for the future in areas free of conflict. Mining legislation provides procedures and a system of tenements which recognise the special features of mineral land.However, there is a basic conflict in the philosophies of mining and planning legislation - the former encouraging the discovery and development of mineral deposits, including extractive minerals and the latter focussing on regulation and restraint. The Australian scene in respect of extractive industry is one of inadequate land use planning, overlapping and conflicting legislation and incomplete knowledge of resources.Grave doubts are expressed on the continued availability of supplies of construction materials at reasonable cost. Analysis of the total body of Australian mining and planning legislation reveals practices and principles which can effectively provide for both the conservation and development of mineral resources and the protection of the amenity and the environment from the adverse effects of mining operations.