If —
(a) a
person applies under section 197 or 198 for a licence over a group of blocks;
and
(b)
because of section 18, 197 or 198 a mining licence cannot be granted over one
or more of the blocks in the group,
the Minister may still
deal with the application to the extent to which the application covers blocks
for which a mining licence can be granted.
Note:
A mining licence
cannot be granted over a block that is not vacant or over a reserved block
(see section 18).