Principle Sections of the Mining Act:
GENERAL
“Section 108. Mining
privilege may be granted in respect of all or part of the land specified in the
application- A mining privilege may be granted in respect of all the
land to which any application relates or in respect of such part of the land as
the Minister thinks fit.”
Section 104A. Minister may
decline application- The Minister may at any time decline any application for a
mining privilege and, notwithstanding anything in this
Act, any objections under this Act to the granting of that application
shall thereupon lapse and be of no effect.
Contention: The Minister had the power to decline or accept
this application at any time within the 9 year period from the date of
application. He made no effort to do so thus causing extreme disadvantage to
myself and also denying me the right to object to any decision.
“Section 240A. Delegation of
powers by Minister – Notwithstanding anything in section 28 of the State
Sector Act 1988, the Minister may not delegate any power conferred on the
Minister by Part 111 of this Act, or by any of sections 128, 129, and 145 of
this Act.”
Contention: Crown Minerals advised
the Secretary of Commerce that section 104A conferred the right for the
Minister of Energy to delegate authority to decline applications. Which the
Secretary undertook and exercised this authority by declining all applications
for mining privileges including renewals of existing licenses.
Section 240A of the Mining Act
1971 prohibits any delegation of powers relating to Crown Land under Part III
of the said Act. My applications relate to this Part. Section 104A of the MA Act 1971, also specifically states
“The Minister”.
Although S.21 to S.151A of the Act
was repealed by S.121(1) of the Crown Minerals Act 1991, S.240A was not
repealed and furthermore S.112 of the CM Act over rules any provisions as such.
Accordingly the Ministry have declined
these applications under S.104A, thus proving the power of S.112 of the CM Act.
Section
109. Applications to be disposed of within specified time – (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) of this
section, every application for a mining privilege shall be disposed of by being
granted or refused within 12 months after the date on which the application was
made.
(2) The Minister may extend the period during which an application for a mining privilege may be dealt with if he considers that an extension is justified because of special circumstances.
(3) If an
objection is made to an application for a mining privilege, or if any objection
on a question of law is made in respect of such an application, the period from
the date of service of the notice of objection on the secretary to the date on
which the objection is determined, or the period from the date of filing the
notice of objection to the date on which the objection is finally determined,
as the case may be, shall not be included in the computation of any period of
time for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.
Contention: Like all
applications, my rights to lodge an objection were denied because of no
decisions were made at all by the Minister until after the enactment of the
Ngai Tahu (Pounamu Vesting Act) in 1997. A Judical Review being my only coarse
of action to object other than a submission on the Ngai Tahu (Pounamu Vesting)
Bill which was exercised but not heeded.
Section 43. Existing mining
privileges protected –
(1) No
Crown grant or conveyance, nor the grant of any mining privilege, shall have
the effect of revoking or injuriously affecting any existing mining privilege
acquired and held under this Act or any former Mining Act, whether or not any
reservation or exception of the existing mining privilege is contained in the
Crown grant or conveyance or the grant of the mining privilege.
(2) Every
such Crown grant or conveyance and every such grant of a mining privilege shall
be deemed to contain an express reservation of the rights to which the holder
of the existing mining privilege is entitled.
Contention:
The Crown also
dispute the interpretation of this Section, but it does state “held under this
Act” meaning the Mining Act 1971. The right in dispute, is the right of
priority accorded under Section 77 as above.
SPECIFIC -
PLA 31 2583
Section 48. Grant of
prospecting licenses-(1) Subject to the
provisions of this Act, the Minister
may, in his discretion and subject to such conditions as he thinks fit to
specify in the license, grant to any person a prospecting license under this
Act. (con’t with subsection 2 and 3 – Irrelevant to above)
The
Guide to the Mining Act 1971; P17-4.6.1,
states:
“ License
applications without objections – The Minister will grant the license”
Contention: Indicative, but subject to the Act of coarse,
that the Minister should and was responsible to grant or decline the
application.
Section
109. Applications to be disposed of within specified time – (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) of this
section, every application for a mining privilege shall be disposed of by being
granted or refused within 12 months after the date on which the application was
made.
(2) The Minister may extend the period during which an application for a mining privilege may be dealt with if he considers that an extension is justified because of special circumstances.
(3) If an
objection is made to an application for a mining privilege, or if any objection
on a question of law is made in respect of such an application, the period from
the date of service of the notice of objection on the secretary to the date on
which the objection is determined, or the period from the date of filing the
notice of objection to the date on which the objection is finally determined,
as the case may be, shall not be included in the computation of any period of
time for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.
Contention: Like all
applications, my rights to lodge an objection were denied because of no
decisions were made at all by the Minister until after the enactment of the
Ngai Tahu (Pounamu Vesting Act) in 1997. A Judical Review being my only coarse
of action to object other than a submission on the Ngai Tahu (Pounamu Vesting)
Bill which was exercised but not heeded.
Section 69. Grant of mining
licences- (1) The
Minister may, in his discretion and subject to such conditions as he thinks fit
to specify in the license, grant to any person a mining license in respect of
any land that is open for mining.
(1A)
Before granting a mining license under this section, the Minister shall have
regard to –
a. -The
nature and extent of the mineral resource on or under the land and it’s
relationship to other resources and industries in the area; and
b. - Any
environmental and social factors involved in the development of that resource;
and
c. -The wise use and management of New Zealand’s mineral resources.
Section
77. (2) " The licensee shall have the
right in priority over every other person to have granted to him a new mining
license in respect of the land to which the existing license relates, if he
applies for a new license not later than 30 day's before the expiry of the
existing license."
Contention:
Section 77 was not included in the relevant
subsections of Section 111 of the Crown Minerals Act pertaining to Existing
Privileges. The Crown continue to dispute the interpretation of this
subsection, but the fact remains that this right of priority over all other
persons has allegedly been illegitimately revoked. The Crown also refused to
accept a request for application forms for a renewal of this license in August
1997, prior to the enactment of the Ngai Tahu (Pounamu Vesting) Act 1997.
Section 43. Existing mining
privileges protected –
(1) No
Crown grant or conveyance, nor the grant of any mining privilege, shall have
the effect of revoking or injuriously affecting any existing mining privilege
acquired and held under this Act or any former Mining Act, whether or not any
reservation or exception of the existing mining privilege is contained in the
Crown grant or conveyance or the grant of the mining privilege.
(2) Every
such Crown grant or conveyance and every such grant of a mining privilege shall
be deemed to contain an express reservation of the rights to which the holder
of the existing mining privilege is entitled.
Contention:
The Crown also
dispute the interpretation of this Section, but it does state “held under this
Act” meaning the Mining Act 1971. The right in dispute, is the right of
priority accorded under Section 77 as above.