MINING ACT 1978 - SECT 30
MINING ACT 1978 - SECT 30
30 . Granting of permits in respect of private land
(1) A person who
desires to enter on any private land to search for any mineral or to mark out
a mining tenement may apply for a permit to enter on the private land.
(2) An application
under subsection (1) shall be made in the prescribed manner and be in the
prescribed form and shall contain a description of the private land concerned
that is sufficient to enable the land to be identified.
(3) A warden or a
prescribed official, on being satisfied that an application made under
subsection (1) is made in good faith, may grant a permit in writing to enter
on the private land concerned —
(a) for
such term not exceeding 30 days from the date thereof; and
(b)
subject to such conditions, not being conditions preventing the marking out of
any mining tenement or the maintenance of any marks or notices relating
thereto,
as he thinks fit and
specifies in that permit and, where the holder of the permit marks out and
applies for a mining tenement in relation to that land or any part thereof,
the permit shall be deemed to continue in force, for the purpose only of
repairing or maintaining the marks so set up and the notices posted thereon,
until such time as the application for the mining tenement is determined.
(4) A warden or a
prescribed official may, on granting a permit under subsection (3), fix a sum
of money and require that sum to be paid to the Director General of Mines by
the applicant for the permit before the issue thereof to the applicant.
(5) A sum fixed under
subsection (4) shall be a sum that, in the opinion of the warden or prescribed
official, would provide reasonable compensation to the owner and the occupier
of the private land to which the permit concerned relates for any damage
likely to be caused by the holder of the permit during the currency of the
permit.
(6) The owner or the
occupier of the private land to which a permit relates may apply to the
warden’s court within the prescribed period for payment of all or part
of a sum paid by the holder of the permit under subsection (4).
(6a) If the
warden’s court is satisfied, on an application made under subsection
(6), that the applicant has suffered damage caused by the holder of the permit
during the currency of the permit, the warden’s court may order that all
or part of the sum be paid to the applicant.
(6b) If an order is
made under subsection (6a) that all of the sum be paid to the applicant, the
Director General of Mines shall give effect to the order.
(6c) If an order is
made under subsection (6a) that part of the sum be paid to the applicant, the
Director General of Mines shall —
(a) give
effect to the order; and
(b) pay
the balance of the sum to the holder of the permit.
(6d) If —
(a) no
application is made under subsection (6); or
(b) an
application made under subsection (6) is refused, withdrawn or discontinued,
the Director General
of Mines shall pay the sum to the holder of the permit.
(7) A permit under
subsection (3) shall be deemed to be held subject to the condition that the
holder is liable —
(a) in
accordance with section 123, in respect of loss or damage arising out of the
lawful exercise of the authorisation conferred by the permit; and
(b)
generally for any loss or damage arising by reason of any entry on the land
effected in purported pursuance of the authorisation conferred by the permit
where the exercise of that authorisation contravened conditions to which the
permit was subject or the entry was otherwise unlawful.
(8) In this section
—
prescribed official means a person who holds or
acts in an office or position in the Department that is prescribed for the
purposes of this section.
[Section 30 inserted: No. 69 of 1981 s. 10;
amended: No. 100 of 1985 s. 21; No. 22 of 1990 s. 9; No. 39 of 2004 s. 53.]