Part 1Preliminary

Part 1—Preliminary 1—Short title This Act may be cited as the Mining Act 1971. 6—Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears— Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary has the same meaning as in the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Act 2005; advanced exploration operations—see subsection (1a); ancillary operations means— (a) ancillary operations for the carrying on of any business that may be conducive to the effective conduct of mining operations or operations associated with providing amenities for persons engaged in the conduct of mining operations; or (b) operations which are brought within the ambit of this definition by a determination of the Minister or by the regulations, but does not include operations excluded from the ambit of this definition by a determination of the Minister or by the regulations; appropriate court means— (a) the Supreme Court; or (b) the ERD Court; or (c) if proceedings do not involve a monetary claim, or a claim for more than $250 000—the Warden's Court;1 authorised officer means a person who holds an appointment under section 14; authorised operations means— (a) exploration operations; or (b) mining operations; or (c) ancillary operations; baseline means the baseline adjacent to the coast of the State (including the coast of any island forming part of the State) for the time being determined under section 7(2)(b) of the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973 of the Commonwealth; business day means any day except— (a) a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday; or (b) a day which falls between 25 December and 1 January in the following year; council has the same meaning as in the Local Government Act 1999 and includes a body corporate that is, by virtue of any Act, deemed to be, or vested with the powers of, a council; declared equipment means— (a) a trench digger or excavator; or (ab) drilling equipment within a class prescribed by the regulations; or (b) mechanically driven equipment, equipped with a blade or bucket of a width exceeding 750 mm, capable of ripping, gouging, scooping or digging earth or rock material; or (c) equipment that is capable of digging, boring or tunnelling underground, generally in a horizontal plane, with a cross sectional dimension greater than 750 mm; director of a company includes a person occupying or acting in the position of a director or member of the governing body of the company, by whatever name called and whether or not validly appointed to occupy or duly authorised to act in the position, and includes any person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors or members of the governing body are accustomed to act; the Director of Mines or the Director means the person assigned by the Minister to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the officer so designated by this Act; environment—see subsection (4); ERD Court means the Environment, Resources and Development Court established under the Environment, Resources and Development Court Act 1993;2 exempt land means land that is exempt from authorised operations under section 9; exploration authority means— (b) a right to prospect for minerals under section 20; (c) a mineral claim; (d) an exploration licence; (e) a retention lease (but only if the mining operations to which the lease relates are limited to exploring); exploring or exploration operations means operations of any kind in the course of— (a) prospecting for minerals; or (b) exploring for minerals; or (c) establishing the extent of a mineral deposit; or (d) undertaking any other activity brought within the ambit of this definition by a determination of the Minister or by the regulations; or (e) providing for the rehabilitation of land on account of the impact of any operations under a preceding paragraph, including such operations carried out at a private mine, and being operations that are classified as low impact exploration operations or advanced exploration operations under subsection (1a), and to explore and exploratory have corresponding meanings; extractive minerals means sand, gravel, stone, shell, shale or clay, but does not include— (a) any such minerals that are mined for a prescribed purpose; or (b) fire clay, bentonite or kaolin; or (c) proppant sand; fossicking means the gathering of minerals— (a) as a recreation; and (b) without any intention to sell the minerals or to utilise them for a commercial or industrial purpose, but does not include the gathering of minerals by any means involving disturbance of land or water by machinery or explosives; low impact exploration operations—see subsection (1a); machinery means any device operated otherwise than by muscular force exerted by the operator; marine park has the same meaning as in the Marine Parks Act 2007; mine means any place in which mining operations are carried out; mineral land means any land that is mineral land in consequence of a declaration under this Act; mineral tenement means— (a) a claim, lease or licence under this Act; or (b) an entitlement under this Act with respect to a private mine, (and includes, if the context so requires, the place that constitutes such a claim, lease, licence or private mine); minerals means— (a) any naturally occurring deposit of metal or metalliferous ore, precious stones or any other mineral (including sand, proppant sand, gravel, stone, shell, coal, oil shale, shale and clay); or (b) any metal, metalliferous substance or mineral recoverable from the sea or a natural water supply; or (c) any metal, metalliferous ore or mineral that has been dumped or discarded— (i) in the course of mining operations or operations incidental to mining operations; or (ii) in other prescribed circumstances; but does not include— (d) soil or moss rocks; or (e) petroleum or any other substance, the recovery or production of which is governed by the Energy Resources Act 2000; mining or mining operations means— (a) operations carried out in the course of prospecting, exploring or mining for minerals; or (b) without limiting paragraph (a), any operations by which minerals are recovered from any place or situation, including by recovering minerals from the sea or a natural water supply; or (c) on‑site operations undertaken to make minerals recovered from the site a commercially viable product, other operations involving such minerals, or other operations involving minerals brought on to the site of a mine for processing; or (d) operations carried out at a private mine; or (da) operations which are brought within the ambit of this definition by a determination of the Minister or by the regulations; or (db) operations for the rehabilitation of land on account of the impact of any operations under a preceding paragraph, or on account of a mine closure; or (e) operations that are directly related to any operations under a preceding paragraph, but does not include— (f) an investigation or survey under section 15; or (g) fossicking; or (h) the surface removal of loose rock material disturbed by agricultural operations; mining register means the register kept by the Mining Registrar under section 15AA; a mining registrar means a person appointed as a mining registrar under section 13 and includes the Mining Registrar; the Mining Registrar means a person appointed as the Mining Registrar under section 13 and includes a person who is acting in the position of Mining Registrar; Mining Rehabilitation Fund or fund means the Mining Rehabilitation Fund established under section 62AA; Murray‑Darling Basin has the same meaning as in the Water Act 2007 of the Commonwealth; native title, native title holder and native title land—see Native Title (South Australia) Act 1994;3 native title mining determination means a determination authorising a tenement holder to enter land and carry out mining operations on the land under Part 9B; opal development area means an area within a precious stones field declared by the Minister under section 8A to be an opal development area; owner of land means— (a) a person who holds a registered estate or interest in the land conferring a right to immediate possession of the land; or (b) a person who holds native title in the land; or (c) a person who has, by statute, the care, control or management of the land; or (d) a person who is lawfully in occupation of the land; or (e) a person who holds a licence or permit under the Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Act 2023; precious stones has the same meaning as in the Opal Mining Act 1995; precious stones field means a precious stones field under the Opal Mining Act 1995; private mine means an area declared to be a private mine under section 19 as in force immediately before 1 September 2000; production tenement means— (b) a mining lease; (c) a retention lease (if the mining operations to which the lease relates are not limited to exploring); (d) an entitlement under this Act with respect to a private mine; proprietor, in relation to a private mine, means a person who was, on the commencement of this Act, divested of property in the minerals for the recovery of which the mine is operated, or a person lawfully claiming under that person; prospecting means operations of any kind in the course of exploring for minerals except such as involve the disturbance of land or water by machinery or explosives, and to prospect has a corresponding meaning; registered representative of native title holders—see Part 4 Native Title (South Australia) Act 1994; related body corporate, in relation to a particular entity (being a body corporate), is a body corporate that is related to the entity under section 50 of the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth; relevant Minister means— (a) in relation to the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary—the Minister to whom the administration of the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Act 2005 is committed; or (b) in relation to a marine park—the Minister to whom the administration of the Marine Parks Act 2007 is committed; or (c) in relation to a River Murray Protection Area or the Murray‑Darling Basin—the Minister to whom the administration of the River Murray Act 2003 is committed; the repealed Act means the Mining Act 1930 repealed by this Act; River Murray Protection Area means a River Murray Protection Area under the River Murray Act 2003; royalty assessment principles means the principles set out in section 17 that apply for the purposes of assessing royalty; senior warden means a warden nominated by the Attorney‑General to be the senior warden of the Warden's Court; specially protected area means— (a) the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary; or (b) a marine park; or (c) a River Murray Protection Area; subsurface stratum means a stratum resulting from the division of mineral land into strata under this Act, being a stratum that lies beneath a surface stratum; surface stratum means a stratum resulting from the division of mineral land into strata under this Act, being a stratum of which the upper surface is the surface of those lands; tenement holder, or holder in relation to a mineral tenement, means— (a) the registered holder of a mineral tenement; or (b) in relation to a private mine— (i) in Part 2A Divisions 1 to 5 (inclusive)—a proprietor of a private mine; or (ii) in any other case—a person carrying out mining operations in relation to a private mine, and includes— (c) a person who is prospecting for minerals under section 20; and (d) an executor, administrator or successor at law; warden means a magistrate nominated by the Attorney-General to exercise the jurisdiction and powers of a warden under this Act; the Warden's Court means the Warden's Court constituted under Part 10. (1a) For the purposes of this Act, exploration operations are classified— (a) as low impact exploration operations, being exploration operations— (i) which are not reasonably expected to have any significant adverse impact on the environment; or (ii) which will reduce the impact of such operations on the environment; or (iii) which are brought within the scope of low impact exploration operations by determination of the Minister or by the regulations, that do not fall within the scope of paragraph (b)(i) or (iii); or (b) as advanced exploration operations, being exploration operations— (i) which involve the use of declared equipment; or (ii) which fall outside the scope of paragraph (a)(i) or (iii); or (iii) which are brought within the scope of advanced exploration operations by determination of the Minister or by the regulations. (2) Where mineral land is divided into strata under this Act, a reference to land, or an area, shall, where appropriate, be construed as a reference to the surface stratum or a subsurface stratum, as the case may require. (3) An explanatory note to a provision of this Act forms part of the provision to which it relates. (4) Subject to subsections (5) and (6), environment includes— (a) land, air, water (including both surface and underground water and sea water), organisms, ecosystems, native fauna and other features or elements of the natural environment; and (b) buildings, structures and other forms of infrastructure, and cultural artefacts; and (c) existing or permissible land use; and (d) public health, safety or amenity; and (e) the geological heritage values of an area; and (f) the aesthetic or cultural values of an area. (5) In relation to a particular mineral tenement, paragraphs (c) and (e) of subsection (4) apply according to the circumstances existing at the time that the tenement is (or was) granted. (6) Subsection (4) does not apply to or in relation to Parts 9B or 11B. (7) A reference to a private mine in a definition in this section only has effect to the extent that the defined term is used in a provision of this Act that applies to or in relation to a private mine, or to a person carrying out operations in relation to a private mine, by virtue of the operation of section 73D. (8) Any determination of the Minister under this section— (a) must be published in the Gazette; and (b) may be varied or revoked by the Minister by a subsequent notice published in the Gazette. (9) A provision of this Act that requires a tenement holder (or prospective tenement holder)— (a) to obtain the agreement or consent of an owner of land; or (b) to give a notice to, or to serve a notice on, an owner of land, will, in relation to a person who is within the ambit of paragraph (c) or (d) of the definition of owner of land, apply— (c) to the extent that the tenement holder (or prospective tenement holder) is aware of such a person; or (d) to the extent that it is reasonable to expect the tenement holder (or prospective tenement holder) to be aware of such a person. 1 All native title questions arising in proceedings before the Warden's Court must be referred to the ERD Court—see Part 3 Native Title (South Australia) Act 1994. 2 The Environment, Resources and Development Court Act 1993 and the Native Title (South Australia) Act 1994 contain provisions under which the ERD Court may refer cases to the Supreme Court, or the Supreme Court may remove cases commenced before the ERD Court into the Supreme Court.