What it does
The Mining Act 1971 (SA) establishes a comprehensive regulatory framework for the identification, granting, operation, and closure of mineral tenements across the State. At its core, s 16(1) vests property in all minerals in the Crown, notwithstanding any prior land grant or instrument, applying to both mineral land (declared under s 8) and other land including areas under coastal waters landward of the baseline (s 16(2)). This reservation underpins the entire tenement system: no person may carry out authorised operations—defined broadly in s 6(1) to include prospecting, exploration, mining, ancillary operations, and rehabilitation—without a mineral tenement or other authority under the Act (ss 20, 29, 35, 43, 48 and 56B).
The Act structures tenements hierarchically. Part 4 provides a general right to prospect for minerals without machinery or explosives (s 20(1)–(2)), leading to mineral claims (ss 21–27) that confer exclusive rights to prospect, conduct approved exploratory operations, and apply for leases (s 25(1)), but are non-transferable and lapse after 12 months without a lease application (s 26(2)). Exploration licences (Part 5, ss 28–33B) authorise exploration operations on open ground or exploration release areas (s 29(1)), subject to expenditure commitments (s 30AAA), area limits (generally 1,000 km² under s 30AA(1)), and renewal caps aggregating to 18 years (s 30A(7)). Mining leases (Part 6, ss 34–38) grant exclusive rights to conduct mining operations and sell recovered minerals (s 35(1)), while retention leases (Part 7, ss 42–46) bridge exploration and production where immediate mining is not viable (s 43(1)(c)). Miscellaneous purposes licences support ancillary operations (Part 8, ss 47–51), and Part 8A facilitates special mining enterprises of major economic significance through ratified agreements that may exempt or modify Act provisions (ss 56B–56D, subject to limits in s 56C(2)).