MINING ACT 1978 - SECT 162

MINING ACT 1978 - SECT 162

162 .         Regulations

        (1)         The Governor may make such regulations as are contemplated by this Act, or as he deems necessary or expedient for the purposes of this Act and any such regulations may confer upon a prescribed person or body specified in the regulations a discretionary authority.

        (2)         Without limiting the generality of the powers conferred by subsection (1) those regulations may —

            (a)         prescribe and regulate the powers, functions and duties of wardens, mining registrars and of any officer or other person appointed under this Act or employed or acting in the administration of this Act;

            (aa)         authorise an inspector appointed under section 11 —

                  (i)         to enter upon land where mining operations are carried out for the purpose of inspecting those mining operations;

                  (ii)         to require any person to provide the inspector with prescribed information relating to mining operations;

                  (iii)         to give directions to the holder of a mining tenement requiring the holder to modify or cease mining operations in prescribed circumstances;

            (ab)         provide for an appeal to the Minister by the holder of a mining tenement against a direction referred to in paragraph (aa)(iii) requiring the holder to cease mining operations;

            (b)         prescribe and provide for the payment of fees under this Act and the purposes for which they are to be paid;

            (ba)         prescribe exemptions from the payment of fees for certain classes of applications under this Act;

            (c)         prescribe any forms for the purposes of this Act and prescribe the manner in which any of those forms are to be executed;

            (ca)         prescribe the manner in which fossicking may be carried out, or prohibit the carrying out of fossicking in prescribed areas or by prescribed means;

            (cb)         provide for any matter relating to permits under section 40E, including without limitation —

                  (i)         the persons or class of persons to whom notice of the issue of permits is to be given; and

                  (ii)         the operation, duration and surrender of permits; and

                  (iii)         the maximum number of permits that may be in force at any time in respect of an exploration licence; and

                  (iv)         the conditions that may be imposed on permits and the variation or cancellation of such conditions; and

                  (v)         the powers of the Minister, in cases of breach of conditions referred to in section 40E(5) or (6) or in other prescribed circumstances —

                        (I)         to impose on holders of permits monetary penalties not exceeding the prescribed amount; or

        (II)         to cancel permits; or

        (III)         to disqualify holders of permits from again holding or applying for permits for such period not exceeding the prescribed period as the Minister thinks fit;

                and

                  (vi)         the procedure to be followed before the exercise of a power referred to in subparagraph (v); and

                  (vii)         the recovery of penalties referred to in subparagraph (v)(I); and

                  (viii)         the prohibition of the use of hand tools of a prescribed kind; and

                  (ix)         the reporting of minerals recovered by the holders of permits; and

                  (x)         the issuing of guidelines in relation to the operation of the permit system;

            (d)         prescribe the manner in which land is to be marked out for the purposes of making applications for mining tenements;

            (ea)         provide for matters relating to the lodgment, in electronic form, of mining tenement documents;

            (eb)         provide for the time at which a mining tenement document is to be taken to have been lodged;

            (ec)         regulate matters in connection with designated tenement contacts for mining tenements and applications for mining tenements, including without limitation —

                  (i)         to require a person who holds, or has applied for, a mining tenement to have a designated tenement contact for the mining tenement or application;

                  (ii)         to provide the manner in which designated tenement contacts are to be nominated for mining tenements, or applications for mining tenements, by persons who hold, or have applied for, mining tenements;

                  (iii)         to provide for matters relating to the provision, updating and accurate recording of particulars relating to designated tenement contacts;

            (ed)         provide for matters relating to the giving of information, a document, a notice or a notification required or permitted to be given under this Act (including the giving of the information or the document, notice or notification in electronic form);

            (ef)         provide for the time at which information, a document, a notice or a notification is taken to have been given;

            (eg)         prescribe the means of satisfying a requirement under this Act in relation to information, a document, a notice or a notification in writing if the information, document, notice or notification is given in electronic form;

            (e)         prescribe the rent payable in respect of any mining tenement or class of mining tenement, and make provision for the exercise of a discretion by the Minister as to the basis upon which a rent shall be calculated;

            (f)         prescribe the times at which rent and royalties shall be paid under this Act and the manner in which they are to be paid;

            (g)         prescribe the manner in which, and the terms and conditions subject to which, mining tenements may be surrendered;

            (ga)         prescribe grounds for extension for the purposes of section 45(1a) and 61(2);

        [(gb)         deleted]

            (h)         prescribe the expenditure conditions subject to which a mining tenement or any class of mining tenement shall be held, and the conditions on which exemption therefrom may be applied for, and granted;

                  (i)         prescribe the persons or class of persons on whom copies of applications for mining tenements or any other documents relating thereto are to be served;

            (j)         provide for the compilation of mining statistics and for that purpose require holders of mining tenements to supply the Director General of Mines with such particulars as may be prescribed;

            (k)         provide for the furnishing of returns, and the keeping and furnishing of records, for the purposes and by the persons specified in the regulations;

            (ka)         provide for any matter relating to the surveying of mining tenements, including —

                  (i)         requiring that surveying to be carried out by a surveyor (in this paragraph referred to as the approved surveyor ) approved by the Minister or an officer of the Department in accordance with any specified written law, any instructions given by an officer of the Department, a warden or the Minister or any direction published by the Department, or any 2 or all 3 of the foregoing;

                  (ii)         the course to be adopted by the approved surveyor if he finds that a mining tenement or application therefor is not marked out in the prescribed shape referred to in section 105;

                  (iii)         the hearing by the warden of disputes arising during the course of that surveying concerning the positions of pegs or otherwise, or of objections to the survey of a mining tenement or of land the subject of an application for a mining tenement, prescribing fees for the lodgment of notices relating to those disputes or objections, and the determination by the Minister of those disputes or objections;

                  (iv)         the correction of errors or omissions in that surveying and the completion of surveying that is uncompleted;

                  (v)         the lodging of reports relating to surveys;

                  (vi)         the entry on land by officers of the Department for the purpose of inspecting surveys;

            (l)         provide for any matter relating to any register to be kept by a warden, a mining registrar or other prescribed persons;

            (m)         provide for such information to be supplied to the Director General of Mines by holders of mining tenements in respect of boring operations for water or water obtained while boring for other purposes as may be prescribed;

            (n)         provide for the protection of land upon which mining operations are conducted and require the rehabilitation to the satisfaction of the Minister of land disturbed by the mining operations;

            (o)         prescribe the covenants and conditions that may be included in mining tenements and the exemption from the performance of those covenants or the operation of those conditions;

        [(p)         deleted]

            (q)         prescribe the mode of assigning, transferring, sub-letting, encumbrancing or otherwise dealing with mining tenements, the enforcement or discharge of any encumbrance thereon, the rights and obligations of an encumbrancer and an encumbrancee thereof or of an assignee, transferee or sub-lessee thereof; and the order of priority of 2 or more encumbrances;

            (qa)         prescribe the mode of dealing with a mining tenement upon the death of the holder of the mining tenement or in other prescribed circumstances and provide for any related matter;

            (r)         regulate the practice and procedure in warden’s courts, the sittings of those courts, the duties of the officers thereof; the fees and costs of the proceedings therein fixed by a legal costs determination made under the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2022 section 133 and of appeals therefrom and the allowances to witnesses in those courts;

            (ra)         without limiting paragraph (a), prescribe and regulate the powers, functions and duties of the warden in proceedings in respect of an application or objection under Part IV ( Part IV proceedings ), including powers to order costs and require security for costs;

            (rb)         prescribe and regulate the practice and procedure to be followed in Part IV proceedings;

            (rca)         provide for documents for use in Part IV proceedings to be lodged with or issued by the warden, or served, in electronic form;

            (rc)         prescribe a scale of costs for Part IV proceedings and provide for the taxation and recovery of costs in those proceedings;

            (s)         regulate matters in connection with partnerships in mining;

            (t)         provide for a refund of fees paid under this Act;

            (u)         regulate the way in which drill cores obtained from mining tenements are to be stored and dealt with and impose restrictions on the disposal or destruction of them;

                  (v)         provide for the reporting of prescribed information as to aerial photography for mineral exploration and provide for the keeping of a register of such information;

            (w)         provide for the publication of guidelines in relation to mineral exploration reports referred to in section 115A;

                  (x)         authorise and regulate the copying, storage, release, publication and dissemination of information contained in any application or report under this Act or any other information supplied to the Minister, a warden or any official of the Department under this Act;

            (y)         prescribe and regulate the responsibilities of the holders of mining tenements as to authorising, or obtaining authorisation for, the release of information contained in applications or reports under this Act.

        (2a)         Subsection (2)(x) applies to information irrespective of when —

            (a)         any application or report containing the information was made or given; or

            (b)         the information was supplied to the Minister, a warden or an official,

                as the case may be.

        (3A)         In subsection (2) —

        mining tenement document means —

            (a)         an application for a mining tenement; or

            (b)         an agreement, claim, notice of objection, security, or any other document, in respect of a mining tenement.

        (3)         The regulations may prescribe a fine not exceeding $10 000 for an offence against any regulation and if the offence is a continuing one, a fine not exceeding $1 000 for each day or part thereof during which the offence has continued.

        (4)         Regulations made under subsection (2)(ra) may apply the provisions of sections 142 and 146 with such modifications as are prescribed.

        (5)         A regulation may require any matter or thing to be verified by statutory declaration.

        [Section 162 amended: No. 52 of 1983 s. 6; No. 100 of 1985 s. 109; No. 105 of 1986 s. 26; No. 65 of 1987 s. 40; No. 22 of 1990 s. 38; No. 37 of 1993 s. 24 and 28(1); No. 58 of 1994 s. 51; No. 54 of 1996 s. 22; No. 49 of 2000 s. 86; No. 63 of 2000 s. 8; No. 15 of 2002 s. 28; No. 65 of 2003 s. 52; No. 39 of 2004 s. 84 and 100; No. 21 of 2008 s. 681; No. 12 of 2010 s. 42; No. 51 of 2012 s. 41; No. 44 of 2016 s. 24; No. 9 of 2022 s. 424; No. 39 of 2022 s. 16.]