Public consultation is now underway on the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety’s (DMIRS) proposed paper concerning marking out land pre-conditions for mining tenement applications.
In December 2020, the Supreme Court of Western Australia ruled that “marking out in the prescribed manner and in the prescribed shape is an essential precondition to the warden’s jurisdiction to determine an application for a prospecting licence”, as part of the Forrest & Forrest Pty Ltd v O’Sullivan & Ors case.
In response to the court’s decision, the paper, Marking out the land a pre-condition of making certain tenement applications – The Mining Registrar’s obligation to consider jurisdiction, was developed.
It outlines that evidence should be provided by the person who marked out the land and that marking out was done in strict compliance with the Mining Act 1978 and Mining Regulations 1981.
Supplying this evidence will assist a mining registrar in establishing that they have the jurisdiction to consider the application in question.
The paper states if the mining registrar is not satisfied that the evidence provided is in strict accordance with the provisions of the Mining Act 1978 and Mining Regulations 1981, then the application will be considered invalid.
As part of the public consultation process, the DMIRS will be holding three information sessions.
The first will be held at the DMIRS Leonora office on July 26 from 2pm–3pm, the second will be held at the DMIRS Kalgoorlie office on July 27 from 1pm–2pm, and the third will be held at 1 Adelaide Terrace, east Perth from 1pm–2pm.
Feedback submission on the paper will close September 15 at 5pm.
