6If a person wants to carry out—

6 If a person wants to carry out— • a scientific investigation; or • a reconnaissance survey; or • the collection of only small amounts of minerals, in coastal waters, the person must obtain a special purpose consent under Part 2.6 to carry out the activity. 7 Even though a person has a licence or special purpose consent, the person must not interfere unnecessarily with navigation, native title, fishing, resource conservation or other activities in the area (see section 44). 40—Steps involved in the grant of a fully effective licence (1) The following 3 steps must occur before a licence comes into force— (a) provisional grant of the licence; (b) proper acceptance of the grant; (c) registration of the grant. See section 88, 154, 232 and 286. (2) If a licence is provisionally granted to a person, the person must do the following to properly accept the grant— (a) give the Minister a written acceptance; (b) lodge any security that the Minister has required; (c) pay the fee that is payable under section 425. See sections 70, 84, 151, 214, 228 and 283. (3) The following 3 steps must occur before a renewal of a licence comes into force— (a) provisional renewal of the licence; (b) proper acceptance of the renewal; (c) registration of the renewal. See sections 89, 155, 233 and 287. (4) If a licence is provisionally renewed, the holder must do the following to properly accept the renewal— (a) give the Minister a written acceptance of the renewal; (b) lodge any security that the Minister has required; (c) pay the fee that is payable under section 425. See sections 114, 173, 250 and 300. 41—Approval of form and manner of applications etc (1) The Minister may approve the form and the manner in which the following are to be made— (a) applications for licences over blocks in coastal waters; (b) applications for the renewal of licences over blocks in coastal waters. (2) An approval under subsection (1) is to be made in writing. 42—Rights to minerals recovered (1) Any minerals recovered by a licence holder or special purpose consent holder from a block covered by the licence or consent become the property of the holder when they are recovered. (2) If the licence or consent authorises the exploration for and the recovery of minerals only of a particular kind, subsection (1) only applies to the recovery of minerals of that kind. (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to the recovery of minerals by a works licence holder. (4) The minerals recovered are not subject to the rights of any other person. (5) Subsection (4) does not apply to rights that the licence or consent holder transfers to the other person. 43—Effect of grant of licence or special purpose consent on native title (1) The grant of a licence or special purpose consent does not extinguish native title in the licence or consent area. (2) While a licence or special purpose consent is in force over an area, native title in the area is subject to the rights conferred by the licence or consent. (3) If compensation is payable under section 24NA(6) of the Native Title Act 1993 of the Commonwealth in respect of the grant of a licence or special purpose consent under this Act, the person who applied for the grant of the licence or consent is declared in terms of subsection (7)(b) of that section to be liable to pay the compensation. 44—Licence etc does not authorise unnecessary interference with other activities in the licence area A person who carries out activities in coastal waters under a licence or special purpose consent granted under this Act must not do so in a way that interferes with— (a) navigation; or (b) the exercise of native title rights and interests; or (c) fishing; or (d) the conservation of the resources of the sea or the seabed; or (e) any activities that someone else is lawfully carrying out, to a greater extent than is necessary for— (f) the reasonable exercise of the person's rights under the licence or consent; or (g) the performance of the person's duties under the licence or consent. The person referred to here might be the licence or consent holder or might be an associated person. Part 2.2—Exploration licences 45—Exploration licences (1) This Part provides for the grant of exploration licences over blocks in coastal waters. (2) An exploration licence may be granted over a standard block (see Division 2) or over a tender block (see Division 3). A tender block is a block that has been declared available for tender. A standard block is any block that is not a reserved block (see sections 19 and 20). 46—Activities authorised by an exploration licence (1) Subject to subsection (2), an exploration licence holder may— (a) explore for minerals in the licence area; and (b) take samples of minerals in the licence area. Under section 23(1) the concept of exploration extends to activities that are directly related to exploration. (2) If the licence is expressed to restrict the kind of minerals covered by the licence, the holder is not permitted to explore for, or to take samples of, minerals not covered by the licence. (3) A restriction on the kind of minerals covered by the licence may be inclusive (for example, only minerals A, B and C) or exclusive (for example, all minerals except A, B and C). (4) For the purposes of subsection (2), the holder does not take samples of an excluded mineral if, in the course of exploring for, or taking samples of, another mineral, the holder recovers some excluded mineral. 47—Minister may cancel or not renew exploration licence without compensation No compensation is payable because of the cancellation or non-renewal of an exploration licence by the Minister. 1 The Minister may cancel the licence under section 130. 2 The Minister may refuse under section 108 to renew the licence. 48—Licence rights may be suspended (1) The Minister must suspend particular rights conferred by an exploration licence if the Minister is satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest to do so. (a) suspends rights conferred by an exploration licence; or the Minister must give the licence holder a written notice that informs the holder of the suspension or the ending of the suspension. See section 122 for the effect of the suspension on the obligations associated with the licence. 49—Compensation for acquisition of property due to suspension of rights (a) the Minister suspends licence rights under section 48; and (a) the Minister suspends licence rights under section 48; and acquisition of property has the same meaning as it has in section 51(xxxi) of the Commonwealth Constitution. Division 2—Application for and grant of exploration licence over standard block 50—Application for exploration licence over standard block (1) A person may apply to the Minister for an exploration licence over a standard block if— (a) the block is vacant; and (b) the block is not excluded. For excluded blocks see section 51. (2) A standard block is vacant if no exploration, retention or mining licence is in force over the block. (3) A person may apply for an exploration licence over a group of standard blocks if— (b) there are not more than 500 blocks in the group. The Minister may, in certain circumstances, allow an application to be made for an exploration licence covering up to 3 discrete areas (see section 53). 51—Excluded blocks (1) A block is excluded if— (a) an exploration licence over the block has been surrendered or cancelled; and (b) a period of 30 days after the day on which the licence was surrendered or cancelled has not ended. (2) A block is excluded for a particular applicant if— (a) the applicant previously applied for an exploration licence over the block; and (b) the application was refused; and (c) a period of 6 months after the day on which the previous application was refused has not ended. (3) A block is excluded for a particular applicant if— (a) the applicant was previously the holder of an exploration, retention or mining licence over the block; and (b) that previous licence was surrendered or cancelled; and (c) a period of 6 months after the day on which the previous licence was surrendered or cancelled has not ended. (4) A block is excluded for a particular applicant if— (a) the applicant was previously the holder of an exploration, retention or mining licence over the block; and (b) the holder was— (i) required by the licence conditions; or (ii) given a direction under section 387 or 392, to provide the Minister with information; and (c) the holder provided the information; and (d) the holder surrendered the licence; and (e) a period of 6 months from the day on which the holder provided the information has not ended. 52—Minister may determine that excluded block is available (1) A person who wants to apply for an exploration licence over a block that is excluded may apply to the Minister for a determination under subsection (2). (2) The Minister may determine that the person may apply for the licence over the block despite section 51. (3) The determination is to be made in writing. 53—Minister may allow application for more than one discrete area (a) a person (the first applicant) applies for an exploration licence; and (b) another person (the second applicant) subsequently applies for an exploration licence for a group of blocks that includes a block covered by the application made by the first applicant; and (c) an exploration licence is then granted to the first applicant; and (d) as a result of the grant, the blocks for which the second applicant can be granted an exploration licence no longer form a discrete area, the second applicant may apply to the Minister for approval for the application to proceed even though the blocks it covers no longer form a discrete area. See also section 59. (2) Subject to subsection (3), the Minister may approve the application proceeding even though the blocks that the application covers do not form a discrete area. (3) The Minister may give an approval under subsection (2) only if the blocks covered by the application form not more than 3 discrete areas. 54—How to apply (i) the activities that the applicant intends to carry out on the block or blocks covered by the application; and (ii) the amount of money that the applicant intends to spend on those activities; and (iii) the technical qualifications of the applicant and of the applicant's employees who are likely to be involved in activities authorised by the licence; and (iv) the technical advice available to the applicant; and (v) the financial resources available to the applicant; and (vi) if the licence is to be held by more than one person, the share in the licence that each prospective holder will hold; and 1 For paragraphs (a) and (b) see section 41. 2 Paragraph (c): the Minister may, after consulting the applicant, vary the blocks applied for (see section 59). 55—Effect of inclusion of unavailable block in application If— (a) a person applies for a licence over a group of standard blocks; and (b) because of section 18, 50 or 51 an exploration 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 an exploration licence can be granted. An exploration licence cannot be granted over a block that is not vacant or is excluded (see sections 50 and 51) or over a reserved block (see section 18). 56—Payment of fee (3) The Minister may refund any fee paid under subsection (1) but only if the Minister is satisfied that special circumstances exist that justify the refund of the fee. 57—Application must be advertised (i) that the applicant has applied for an exploration licence over the blocks described in the notice; and (iii) that requests that comments be sent to the applicant and the Minister within 30 days after the day on which the advertisement is published. (a) the applicant applies to the Minister within the 14 day period referred to in subsection (3) for an extension of the period; and 58—How multiple applications are dealt with (1) Subject to subsection (2), if a block is covered by 2 or more applications for an exploration or mining licence, the Minister must deal with the applications in the order in which they are made. See also section 203. (a) the applications are lodged within a particular time of each other; and (b) the time is less than the time prescribed by the regulations, the Minister must determine the order in which the applications are to be dealt with by drawing lots in the way prescribed by the regulations. 59—Discussions about blocks applied for (1) The Minister may ask the applicant to discuss with the Minister the blocks covered by the application. (2) The request under subsection (1) must be— (a) made in writing; and (b) given to the applicant. (3) If, after discussions, the Minister and the applicant agree on the blocks to be covered by the application, the applicant is taken to have applied for an exploration licence over the blocks agreed on. (4) The Minister must give the applicant written confirmation of the agreement as soon as possible after the agreement is reached. (5) The Minister may include in the written confirmation a direction that the applicant must advertise the revised application under section 60. (6) If the Minister and the applicant do not agree on the blocks to be covered by the application— (a) the Minister may make a written determination specifying the blocks to be covered by the application; and (b) the applicant is taken to have applied for an exploration licence over the blocks specified in the determination. (7) The Minister may include in the written determination a direction that the applicant must advertise the revised application under section 60. (8) If the Minister makes a determination under subsection (6), the Minister must give a copy of the determination to the applicant as soon as possible after the determination is made. 60—Advertising revised application (a) the application has been revised under section 59; and (b) the applicant has been given a direction under section 59(5) or (7), the applicant must advertise the revised application in a newspaper circulating throughout the State. (b) a map and description of the blocks covered by the revised application that are sufficient for the blocks to be identified; and (i) that the applicant has applied for an exploration licence over the blocks described in the notice; and (iii) that requests that comments be sent to the applicant and the Minister within 30 days after the day on which the advertisement is published. (a) if the Minister and the applicant agree on the blocks applied for under section 59(3), as soon as possible after the applicant is given written confirmation of the agreement under section 59(4); or (b) if the Minister makes a determination of the blocks applied for under section 59(6), as soon as possible after the applicant is given a copy of the determination under section 59(8), but in any case, subject to subsection (4), within 14 days after the applicant is given the confirmation or copy. (a) the applicant applies to the Minister within the 14 day period referred to in subsection (3) for an extension of the period; and 61—Request for further information 62—Section number not used 63—Minister may provisionally grant licence If the applicant does what is required by sections 54 to 61, the Minister may— (a) provisionally grant an exploration licence to the applicant; or Under section 88, the grant of the licence cannot be effective before it is registered (see section 333 for registration). The grant will not be registered until it has been properly accepted (see section 70 for proper acceptance). 64—Section number not used 65—Matters to be specified in the licence The licence must specify— For the term of a licence see section 88. 66—Applicant must be notified (1) The Minister must give the applicant written notice of a decision under section 63. (2) If the Minister provisionally grants an exploration licence— (ii) notification that the provisional grant will lapse unless the provisional holder, before the end of the primary payment period— 67—Amendment of conditions (1) If the provisional holder is dissatisfied with a licence condition, the provisional holder may ask the Minister to amend the condition. (2) The request must be made within 30 days after the day on which the provisional holder is given the licence under section 66. (3) If a request is made under subsection (1), the Minister may amend the licence condition and, with the consent of the provisional holder, any other licence condition. 68—Amendment of security requirements (2) The request must be made within 30 days after the day on which the provisional holder is given notice under section 66. 69—Extension of primary payment period (1) If the provisional holder makes a request under section 67 or 68, the provisional holder may ask the Minister to extend the primary payment period. (2) The request must be made within 30 days after the day on which the provisional holder is given notice under section 66. 70—Acceptance of grant of exploration licence for standard block (1) The provisional grant of the exploration licence is properly accepted by the provisional holder if, before the required time, the provisional holder— Under section 88, the grant of the licence cannot be effective before it is registered (see section 333 for registration). (2) The required time under subsection (1) is the end of the primary payment period or, if the provisional holder has been granted an extension of the primary payment period under section 69, the end of the secondary payment period. 71—Conditions applicable to licence on grant If the provisional grant of the licence is properly accepted under section 70, it is subject to— (a) the conditions specified in the licence given to the applicant under section 66; or (b) if the Minister amended those conditions under section 67, those conditions as amended. 72—Lapse of provisional grant of exploration licence If the provisional grant of the licence is not properly accepted under section 70, the provisional grant lapses.