Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

ANTARCTIC TREATY (ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION) ACT 1980 - SECT 19A

             (1)  A person must not engage in a mining activity:

                     (a)  in the Territory; or

                     (b)  on any part of:

                              (i)  the continental shelf of the Territory; or

                             (ii)  the continental shelf of any of the islands known as Heard Island and McDonald Islands;

                            that is within the Antarctic.

Penalty:  Imprisonment for 16 years or 1,000 penalty units, or both.

             (2)  Subsection (1) does not apply to a mining activity if the activity is the gathering or collecting of a meteorite, or the removal of a rock or meteorite, in accordance with a permit.

Note:          The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (2). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .