Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990 - SECT 4

Definitions

4. Definitions



(1) In this Act-



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accident means an accident on any land on which work under a licence is being
done, including an accident-

   (a)  resulting in serious injury or loss of life, or having the potential
        to result in serious injury or loss of life; or

   (b)  resulting in work time being lost by an employee because of an injury,
        being time lost from work of one day or more, with the day on which
        the injury occurred not being counted as a day lost; or

   (c)  involving a serious malfunction of any winding arrangements, treatment
        plant or mine buildings; or

   (d)  involving explosives; or

   (e)  involving collapse of the ground; or

   (f)  involving rock falls; or

   (g)  resulting in detrimental effects to the environment, or having the
        potential to cause detrimental effects to the environment;

agricultural land means private land that is used primarily for-

   (a)  cultivation for the purpose of selling the produce of the cultivation;
        or

   (b)  keeping animals or poultry for the purpose of selling them or produce
        derived from them; or

   (c)  keeping bees for the purpose of selling their honey; or

   (d)  commercial fishing; or

   (e)  the cultivation or propagation for sale of plants;

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Code of Practice means a Code of Practice made under Part 8A as amended and in
force for the time being;





community engagement plan has the meaning set out in section 40(3)(b)(ii);



Crown land means land that is, or that is by any Act deemed to be, unalienated
land of the Crown, and includes-

   (a)  land of the Crown that is reserved permanently or temporarily by or
        under any Act; and

   (b)  land of the Crown occupied by a person under a lease, licence or other
        right under this or any other Act- but does not include land which is
        the subject of a licence granted under Part 3A of the
        Victorian Plantations Corporation Act 1993; Crown land Minister in
        relation to Crown land, means the Minister responsible for
        administering the Act under which the land is controlled or managed;

Department means the Department of Primary Industries;







Department Head means the Department Head (within the meaning of the
Public Administration Act 2004) of the Department;





Director of Mines means the Director of Mines employed under section 90(1)(a);



dispute means a dispute arising under this Act between-

   (a)  a licensee or an applicant and the Department Head or an employee of
        the Department; or

   (b)  a licensee or an applicant and the holder of a miner's right; or

   (c)  a licensee or an applicant and the owner or occupier of land; or

   (d)  a licensee and another licensee or an applicant for a licence; or

   (e)  an applicant and another applicant; or

   (ea) a member of the public and the Department Head (or an employee of the
        Department) in relation to work under a licence that directly and
        substantially affects, or is likely to affect, the member of the
        public- and includes a dispute-

   (f)  about the existence of a licence, miner's right, tourist fossicking
        authority or tourist mine authority; or

   (g)  about the boundaries of land covered by a licence or an application-
        but does not include a dispute for which recourse to a court, a
        tribunal or an expert (other than a mining warden) is expressly
        provided under this Act;

exploration means exploration for minerals and includes-

   (a)  conducting geological, geophysical and geochemical surveys; and

   (b)  drilling; and

   (c)  taking samples for the purposes of chemical or other analysis; and

   (d)  extracting minerals from land, other than for the purpose of producing
        them commercially; and

   (e)  in relation to an exploration licence, anything else (except mining)
        that is specified in the licence;

graticular section-

   (a)  means the 1000 metre interval block based on the Australian Geodetic
        Datum 1966, as shown on the National Topographic Map Series published
        by the National Mapping Council; or

   (b)  if a notice under section 7A applies, has the meaning it has as
        specified by, or under, that notice;

infringement means a mining infringement;

inspector means inspector of mines employed under section 90(1)(b);

land affected, in relation to work under a licence, means land to which entry
is required during the work and includes the surface of the land and the land
to a depth of 100 metres;

licence means an exploration licence or a mining licence under Part 2;

licensee means the holder of a licence;

low impact exploration means-

   (a)  exploring for minerals on land-

   (i)  without using equipment (other than non-mechanical hand tools) to
        excavate on the land; and

   (ii) without using explosives on the land; and

   (iii) without removing or damaging any tree or shrub on the land; and

   (iv) without disturbing any Aboriginal cultural heritage within the meaning
        of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 that is recorded in the Victorian
        Aboriginal Heritage Register under that Act; and

   (v)  without disturbing any place or object on the Victorian Heritage
        Register, or any archaeological site or relic included on the Heritage
        Inventory, under the Heritage Act 1995; or

   (b)  undertaking any other exploration activity that is declared to be low
        impact exploration under section 7B;

mine means any land on which mining is taking place under a licence;

miner's right means a miner's right under Part 5;

mineral means any substance which occurs naturally as part of the earth's
crust-

   (a)  including-

   (i)  oil shale and coal; and

   (ii) hydrocarbons and mineral oils contained in oil shale or coal or
        extracted from oil shale or coal by chemical or industrial processes;
        and

   (iii) any substance specified in Schedule 4;

   (b)  excluding water, stone, peat or petroleum;

minerals exemption means an exemption that was granted under section 293 or
293A of the Mines Act 1958 and that was current immediately before the
commencement of this section;

mining means extracting minerals from land for the purpose of producing them
commercially, and includes processing and treating ore;

mining infringement means an offence against this Act or the regulations that
is prescribed for the purposes of Part 12;

mining register means the register kept under Part 6;

occupier means-

   (a)  in relation to private land, any person lawfully in possession of the
        land; and

   (b)  in relation to Crown land, the Secretary (as defined in the
        Conservation, Forests and Lands Act 1987);

owner means-

   (a)  in relation to Crown land, means the Crown land Minister; and

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   (d)  in relation to private land under the Transfer of Land Act 1958 (other
        than land in an identified folio under that Act), the person who is
        registered or entitled to be registered as the proprietor of the land;
        and

   (e)  in relation to other private land-

   (i)  if the land is mortgaged, the mortgagor; and

   (ia) if the land is subject to a licence granted under Part 3A of the
        Victorian Plantations Corporation Act 1993, the licensee, under that
        Part, of the land; and

   (ii) in any other case, the person who has the fee in the land;

petroleum means1-

   (a)  any naturally occurring hydrocarbon, whether in a gaseous, liquid or
        solid state; or

   (b)  any naturally occurring mixture of hydrocarbons, whether in a gaseous,
        liquid or solid state; or

   (c)  any naturally occurring mixture of one or more hydrocarbons, whether
        in a gaseous, liquid or solid state, and one or more of the following,
        that is to say, hydrocarbon sulphide, nitrogen, helium and carbon
        dioxide- and includes any petroleum as defined by paragraph (a), (b)
        or (c) or any prescribed petroleum product that has been returned to a
        natural reservoir in Victoria, but excludes any naturally occurring
        hydrocarbon or mixture of hydrocarbons within a deposit of coal or oil
        shale;

planned improvement, in relation to land, means an improvement on the land in
respect of which the owner or occupier had, before an application for a
licence covering that land was made-

   (a)  applied for or been granted a building permit or a planning permit; or

   (b)  otherwise demonstrated a genuine intention to proceed;

plant means buildings, structures, works or machinery (whether fixed or
mobile) and all other installations or equipment used in the doing of work
under a licence;

private land means any land that is not Crown land;

register means the mining register kept under Part 6;

registered means registered in the mining register;

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rehabilitation bond means a rehabilitation bond referred to in section 80;

rehabilitation plan means a rehabilitation plan referred to in section 79;



restricted Crown land means any land specified in Schedule 3;



search means search for minerals using no equipment for the purposes of
excavation other than non-mechanical hand tools;

stone means2-

   (a)  sandstone, freestone or other building stone; or

   (b)  basalt, granite, limestone or rock of any kind ordinarily used for
        building, manufacturing or construction purposes; or

   (c)  quartz (other than quartz crystals); or

   (d)  slate or gravel; or

   (e)  clay (other than fine clay, bentonite or kaolin); or

   (ea) peat; or

   (f)  sand, earth or soil; or

   (g)  other similar materials;

stratum of land means a part of land consisting of a space of any shape below,
on or above the surface of the land or partly below and partly above the
surface of the land, all of the dimensions of which are limited;

tailings means any waste mineral, stone or other material that was produced
during the course of mining (whether before or after 6 November 1991), and
includes any mineral, stone or material that is or was discarded from plant or
machinery used for extracting minerals;

tourist mine means a mine, part of a mine or any other location in which the
principal activities conducted are activities promoting interest in the
practice and history of prospecting or mining;

Tribunal means Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal established by the
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998;

unrestricted Crown land means any Crown land (whether reserved or not) other
than-

   (a)  land to which paragraph (a) or (b) of section 6 applies; or

   (b)  restricted Crown land;

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work authority means an authority granted under section 42 to the holder of a
mining licence;

work plan means a work plan lodged under section 40;

worksite means any place where work is being done under a licence, a miner's
right, a tourist fossicking authority or a tourist mine authority or where
rehabilitation work is being done, or required to be done, under Part 7.

(2) If under the Public Administration Act 2004 the name of the Department is
changed, a reference in the definition of Department in subsection (1) to the
"Department of Primary Industries" must, from the date when the name is
changed, be treated as a reference to the Department by its new name.





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