17 June
2004
Dear Mr Winfield
Mining License 32 3021 (Mining Act 1971)
K.J. Landaus & S. McKay
In your letter of reply dated 10 June 2004, you have
confirmed the opinion as earlier stated by the Minister and the Ministry, that license
applications could no longer be accepted for minerals classified as pounamu.
You also state that Section 43 of the Mining Act 1971 is no
longer applicable because the above license has expired and the mineral is now
vested with Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu.
Once again please appreciate that the timeline is important
when considering these matters.
With regard to my attempt to apply for a new license under
Section 77 of the Mining Act 1971.
This
license remained current (an existing privilege) when I advised Mr Fowke, the
Manager of Crown Minerals my intentions and requested application forms
pursuant to Section 77 and Section 43 of the MA 1971, in August 1997, 28 months
prior to the expiry date and two months prior to the enactment of the vesting
Act.
Both by
phone calls and in a letter of reply dated 7 October 1997, Mr Stigley,
Permitting Manager, advised me that I would have to apply to Te Runanga o Ngai
Tahu.
His
interpretation of Section 77, MA 1971 was to say at the least, unbelievable.
In a letter
dated 6 May 1997, the Minister of Energy replying to Damien O’Connor on my
behalf, stated that a mining license cannot be renewed and that the right of
priority under Section 77 of the MA 1971 has not been preserved under the Crown
Minerals Act 1991.
As you are
aware, I hold many other letters that state the same things.
In your
letter of 10 June you basically advised me of the same.
It is
considered as irrelevant that the application could be granted or declined for any
particular mineral sought on the specific land.
The point
is that my rights were denied by the Crown prior to the enactment of the Ngai
Tahu (Pounamu Vesting) Act 1997 and the period 30 days prior to the expiry date
of this license, thus causing extreme disadvantage to my accorded priority over
other persons in legitimately applying for a new license.
I allege
that a new application in the process would have further established my rights
to have the new owners of any minerals applied for, consider this right and
application in any future transaction of mineral ownership and the perhaps the
rights thereof to mine or extract it.
Do you not
consider, the Crown therefore have denied me the right to apply for a new
licence on that land for whatever mineral I wished to mine by not responding to
my written requests and by since refusing to recognise that these rights were
also allowed for pursuant to the particular provisions in the Crown Minerals
Act 1991 and the Ngai Tahu (Pounamu Vesting) Act 1997 regardless of the actual
vesting of the mineral ownership.
As you are
aware, Section 43 of the MA 1971, especially subsection (2), is specific to the
express reservation of rights to the holder of the existing mining license and
that any Crown grant or conveyance shall contain express reservation of these
rights.
These
rights include those provisions in Section 77 of the MA 1971.
I have included a copy of my statements of claim for your information
which may help you understand my position on matters generally.
I passed over a copy of this to Glenhorrow Holdings
directors in 1991.
Kenn Landaus