Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) The Minister may
approve retention status for the whole or any part of the land the subject of
a prospecting licence if satisfied that —
(a)
there is an identified mineral resource located in, on or under that land; and
(b) the
mining of that identified mineral resource is impracticable because —
(i)
the resource is uneconomic or subject to marketing
problems although the resource may reasonably be expected to become economic
or marketable in the future; or
(ii)
the resource is required to sustain the future operations
of an existing or proposed mining operation; or
(iii)
there are existing political, environmental or other
difficulties in obtaining requisite approvals.
(2) An approval shall
be in writing.
(3) An approval takes
effect on the day on which notice of the approval is published in the Gazette
or on a later day specified in the notice.
(4) The area of land
to which an approval applies shall be an area that, in the opinion of the
Minister, is sufficient to include —
(a) the
land in, on or under which the identified mineral resource is located; and
(b) such
other land as may be required for future mining operations in respect of that
identified mineral resource.
(5) The area of land
to which an approval applies may be less than the area of land in respect of
which the approval was sought.
(6) If retention
status is approved for part of the land the subject of a prospecting licence,
the holder of the prospecting licence shall mark out in the prescribed manner
the boundaries of the land covered by the approval as soon as practicable
after the day on which the approval takes effect.
(7) If retention
status is approved for part of the land the subject of a prospecting licence,
the land not covered by the approval ceases to be the subject of the licence
on the day on which the approval takes effect.
[Section 54 inserted: No. 39 of 2004 s. 22.]