(1) For the purposes of this or any other Act or law, it is declared that
fossicking is a lawful activity.
(2) Subsection (1)--
(a) does not affect any
other Act or law that prohibits, regulates or restricts fossicking or that has
the effect of prohibiting, regulating or restricting fossicking and, in
particular, does not make fossicking a lawful authority or lawful excuse for
the purposes of any such Act or law, and
(b) does not confer on any person a
right of entry on to land (other than land prescribed by subsection (2A)) for
fossicking purposes.
(2A) For the purposes of subsection (2) (b), the
prescribed land is Crown land (within the meaning of the Crown Land
Management Act 2016 )--
(b) that
is not under the management or control of a trustee or a public or local
authority.
(3) Any publicly owned mineral that is recovered in the course of
lawful fossicking becomes the property of the person by whom it is found at
the time it is severed from the land on which it is found.
(4) A person must
not carry out fossicking on any land the subject of an authority, mineral
claim or opal prospecting licence except with the consent of the holder of the
authority, claim or licence.
: Maximum penalty--50 penalty units.
(5)
Subsection (4) does not apply to the carrying out of fossicking on land the
subject of an exploration licence if the land is within a fossicking district.
(6) A person must not carry out fossicking on any land that is, or in waters
that are, the subject of an approved determination of native title under the
Commonwealth Native Title Act to the effect that native title exists, except
with the consent of the relevant registered native title body corporate with
respect to that native title.