MINING ACT 1978 - SECT 70D
MINING ACT 1978 - SECT 70D
70D . Determination of application for retention licence
(1) A person who
wishes to object to the granting of an application for a retention licence
must lodge a notice of objection.
(1A) A notice of
objection must be —
(a)
lodged within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner; and
(b)
accompanied by the prescribed fee.
(1B) A person is not
entitled to lodge a notice of objection if the basis for the objection is that
the retention licence, or activities authorised by it, would affect an offsets
project.
(1C) Subsection (1B)
does not apply in respect of an offsets project, or any part of an offsets
project, situated on land held in freehold.
(2) Where no notice of
objection is lodged within the prescribed time, or any notice of objection is
withdrawn, the mining registrar shall, unless subsection (4)(b) applies,
forward to the Minister a report which recommends the grant or refusal of the
retention licence and sets out the reasons for that recommendation.
(3) The mining
registrar shall —
(a)
recommend the grant of the retention licence if satisfied that the applicant
has complied in all respects with the provisions of this Act; or
(b)
recommend the refusal of the retention licence if not so satisfied.
(4) Where a notice of
objection —
(a) is
lodged within the prescribed time; or
(b) is
not lodged within the prescribed time but is lodged before the mining
registrar has forwarded a report to the Minister under subsection (2) and the
warden is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for late lodgment,
and the notice of
objection is not withdrawn, the warden shall hear the application for the
retention licence on a day appointed by the warden and may give any person who
has lodged such a notice of objection an opportunity to be heard.
(5) The warden shall
as soon as practicable after the hearing of the application forward to the
Minister for the Minister’s consideration —
(a) the
notes of evidence; and
(b) any
maps or other documents referred to in the notes of evidence; and
(c) a
report which recommends the grant or refusal of the retention licence and sets
out the reasons for that recommendation.
(6) On receipt of a
report under subsection (2) or (5), the Minister may, subject to subsection
(7), grant or refuse the retention licence as the Minister thinks fit, and
irrespective of whether —
(a) the
report recommends the grant or refusal of the retention licence; and
(b) the
applicant has or has not complied in all respects with the provisions of this
Act.
(7) The Minister shall
not grant a retention licence unless the Minister is satisfied that mining of
an identified mineral resource on the land in respect of which the retention
licence is sought is for the time being impracticable for one or more of the
reasons referred to in section 70C(2).
(8) Before granting or
refusing a retention licence the Minister may require the applicant to furnish
such further information in relation to the application, or such evidence in
support of the application, as the Minister thinks fit.
(9) Before granting a
retention licence the Minister may require the applicant to mark out in the
prescribed manner the land in respect of which the retention licence is
sought.
[Section 70D inserted: No. 58 of 1994 s. 24(1);
amended: No. 39 of 2004 s. 61; No. 12 of 2010 s. 28; No. 39 of 2022 s. 11; No.
27 of 2023 s. 7.]