Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990 - SECT 8

Offence to search for minerals or do work without authority

8. Offence to search for minerals or do work without authority



(1) A person, other than the Crown, must not prospect, fossick or otherwise
search for minerals, or carry out any exploration or mining, on any land
unless-

   (a)  the person does so in accordance with a licence, a miner's right, a
        tourist fossicking authority or a tourist mine authority; or

   (b)  the person benefits from a relevant minerals exemption.

Penalty: In the case of a corporation, 1000 penalty units. In any other case,
200 penalty units. Default penalty: In the case of a corporation, 20 penalty
units. In any other case, 10 penalty units.

(2) The owner of minerals that are taken from land in contravention of
subsection (1) may recover from the person taking them, as a debt due to the
owner of the minerals and recoverable in a court of competent jurisdiction,
the value of the minerals taken.

(3) Subsection (1) applies to the extraction or removal of stone under a work
authority under the Extractive Industries Development Act 1995 which would
necessarily involve the mining of a mineral.