118Release and protection of information

118 Release and protection of information (1) The Minister may release or publish information about a geothermal authority: (a) if the term of the authority expires – at any time after the date of expiry; or (b) if the authority is surrendered or cancelled – at any time after the date on which the surrender or cancellation takes effect; or (c) if the information is all or part of an annual report given to the Minister under section 52 – no earlier than 5 years after the expiry of the time prescribed for the giving of the report; or (d) in any other circumstance – no earlier than 5 years after the date on which the Minister received the information. (2) However, the Minister must not release or publish the following information about a geothermal production lease during the term of the lease: (a) the production data relating to the sale of geothermal energy; (b) the geothermal operations plan for the geothermal activities conducted under the lease; (c) information prescribed by regulation. (3) The Minister must not, during the consideration of a geothermal authority application, release or publish any of the following information given by the applicant: (a) the technical qualifications of the operator for the application area; (b) the financial resources available to the operator;

Geothermal Energy Act 2009 56 (c) interpretive information about the application area; (d) information prescribed by regulation. interpretive information, in relation to a geothermal authority or geothermal authority application, means information the Minister considers to be an opinion or conclusion relating to the sub-soil, a geothermal energy resource or geothermal energy in the geothermal authority area or application area. release, of information, includes making the information available for inspection in the register.