Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) The Minister, the
Director General of Mines or a mining registrar may issue or cause to be
issued to a person upon being satisfied as to the identity of the applicant
and payment of the prescribed fee a Miner’s Right which is not
transferable and not limited in term and such a Miner’s Right shall be
in the prescribed form.
(2) Subject to this
Act the holder of a Miner’s Right is authorised to do all or any of the
following things —
(a) to
pass and repass over Crown land with such employees and agents, vehicles
machinery and equipment as may be necessary or expedient for the purpose of
prospecting for minerals and marking out of any land which may be made the
subject of an application for a mining tenement;
(b) to
prospect on —
(i)
Crown land that is not the subject of a mining tenement;
or
(ii)
Crown land that is the subject of an exploration licence
if the holder of the Miner’s Right holds a permit to do so under
section 20A,
for minerals and
conduct tests for any mineral thereon for the purpose of ascertaining whether
any part of the land, and if appropriate determining which area, is to be
marked out or applied for, or both, for the purpose of making an application
for a mining tenement in respect thereof;
(c) to
extract or remove samples or specimens of rock, ore or minerals with as little
damage to the surface of such land as possible, in quantities, in total or on
occasions, not exceeding the prescribed limits, and to keep as his property or
to utilise for testing or evaluation purposes any samples and specimens of any
mineral found by him on such land;
(d) to
take, subject to the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914 , or any Act
amending or replacing the relevant provisions of that Act, water from any
natural spring, lake, pool or water-course situated in or flowing through such
land and subject to that Act to sink a well or bore on such land and take
water therefrom and to use the water so taken for the purposes of prospecting
and for domestic purposes only; and
(e) to
camp on Crown land, for the purpose of prospecting, in such manner and subject
to such conditions as may be prescribed; and
(f)
subject to the prior written consent of —
(i)
any occupier of that Crown land; and
(ii)
the holder of the mining tenement concerned,
to fossick by
prescribed means on Crown land, whether or not land which is held as a mining
tenement.
(3) Any person acting
in the exercise or purported exercise of an authorisation conferred or alleged
to be conferred by subsection (2) shall —
(a)
cause all holes, pits, trenches and other disturbances on the surface of the
land which were made while he was so acting and which are likely to endanger
the safety of any person or animal, to be filled in or otherwise made safe,
together with such other holes, pits, trenches and other disturbances made,
wholly or in part, by him as the Minister may from time to time direct;
(b) take
all necessary steps to prevent fire, damage to trees or other property and to
prevent damage to any property or damage to livestock by the presence of dogs,
the discharge of firearms, the use of vehicles or otherwise; and
(c) be
liable to pay compensation in accordance with section 123, as may be
agreed or as may be determined by the warden’s court on the application
of the owner or occupier of the land or of the holder of any mining tenement
affected, for any loss or damage caused by, and not made good by, that person
in relation to any land or mining tenement while he was so acting,
and a determination
made by the warden’s court under this subsection is for the
purposes of section 147(1), a final determination of the warden’s
court.
[(4) deleted]
(5) Notwithstanding
that any Crown land to which this subsection refers may be marked out as or be
included in a mining tenement, a mining tenement or Miner’s Right does
not entitle the holder thereof to prospect or fossick on, explore, or mine on
or under, or otherwise interfere with, any Crown land that is —
(a) for
the time being under crop, or which is situated within 100 metres thereof;
(b) used
as or situated within 100 metres of a yard, stockyard, garden, cultivated
field, orchard, vineyard, plantation, airstrip or airfield;
(c)
situated within 100 metres of any land that is in actual occupation and on
which a house or other substantial building is erected;
(d) the
site of or situated within 100 metres of any cemetery or burial ground;
(e) land
the subject of a pastoral lease within the meaning of the Land
Administration Act 1997 which is the site of, or is situated within 400
metres of the outer edge of, any water works, race, dam, well or bore, not
being an excavation previously made and used for mining purposes by a person
other than a lessee of that pastoral lease,
without the written
consent of the occupier, unless —
(ea) the
warden in relation to any land other than land referred to in
paragraph (c) otherwise directs; or
(eb) in
the case of mining, it is carried out not less than 30 metres below the
lowest part of the natural surface of the land,
but nothing in this
subsection prevents such a holder from passing and repassing over any
Crown land that is situated within —
(f) 100
metres of any Crown land that is —
(i)
for the time being under crop;
(ii)
used as a yard, stockyard, garden, cultivated field,
orchard, vineyard, plantation, airstrip or airfield;
(iii)
in actual occupation and on which a house or other
substantial building is erected; or
(iv)
the site of any cemetery or burial ground;
or
(g) 400
metres of any Crown land that is the site of any water works, race, dam, well
or bore,
in order to gain
access to other land (not being Crown land referred to in paragraph (f)
or (g)), for the purpose of prospecting or fossicking on, exploring, mining on
or under, or marking out that other land but a warden shall not give a
direction under paragraph (ea) unless he is satisfied that the land is
bona fide required for mining purposes and he is satisfied that compensation
in accordance with section 123 for all loss or damage suffered or likely
to be suffered by an owner or occupier of the land has been agreed upon or
otherwise determined, or is assessed and settled in accordance with this Act.
(5a) The holder of a
mining tenement or Miner’s Right who passes or repasses over any Crown
land that is situated within —
(a) 100
metres of any Crown land referred to in subsection (5)(f); or
(b) 400
metres of any Crown land referred to in subsection (5)(g),
in order to gain
access to the other land referred to in subsection (5) for the purpose
referred to therein shall —
(c)
before so passing or repassing, take all reasonable and practicable steps to
notify the occupier of the Crown land so situated of his intention to do so;
(d) when
so passing or repassing —
(i)
take all necessary steps to prevent fire, damage to trees
or other property and to prevent damage to any property or damage to livestock
by the presence of dogs, the discharge of firearms, the use of vehicles or
otherwise;
(ii)
cause as little inconvenience as possible to the occupier
of the Crown land so situated; and
(iii)
comply with any reasonable request made by the occupier
of the Crown land so situated in relation to the manner in which that holder
so passes or repasses;
(e)
restrict the number of occasions on which he so passes or repasses to the
minimum necessary for the purpose of prospecting or fossicking on, exploring,
mining operations on or under, or marking out that other land; and
(f) make
good any damage caused by that passing or repassing to any improvements or
livestock on the Crown land so situated,
and the occupier of
the Crown land so situated is entitled to be compensated by that holder for
any damage referred to in paragraph (f) that is not made good by that
holder, and, in respect of land under cultivation, for any other loss or
damage for which that holder is liable in accordance with section 123.
(5b) The amount of any
compensation payable under subsection (5a) by the holder of the mining
tenement or Miner’s Right concerned to an occupier of Crown land
referred to in that subsection shall be determined —
(a) by
agreement between that holder and that occupier; or
(b) in
default of agreement, by the warden’s court on the application of that
holder or that occupier.
(5c) A determination
made by the warden’s court under subsection (5b) is, for the
purposes of section 147(1), a final determination of the warden’s
court.
[Section 20 4 amended by No. 122 of 1982
s. 6; No. 100 of 1985 s. 13; No. 22 of 1990 s. 5;
No. 31 of 1997 s. 141; No. 63 of 2000 s. 4; No. 15 of
2002 s. 5; No. 39 of 2004 s. 50 and 88.]