Part 1Preliminary

Part 1—Preliminary 1—Short title This Act may be cited as the Opal Mining Act 1995. 3—Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears— 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 $150 000—the Warden's Court;1 approved association means an association granted an approval under section 96; authorised person means a person appointed as an authorised person under section 77; corporation means a body corporate; 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 (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; or (d) equipment of a kind prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition, but does not include surface drilling equipment; designated area means an area within a precious stones field declared by the Minister under section 5 to be a designated area; Director means the Director of Mines under the Mining Act; 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; ERD Court means the Environment, Resources and Development Court established under the Environment, Resources and Development Court Act 1993;2 exclusion zone means land declared by the Minister under section 5 to be an exclusion zone for the purposes of this Act; exempt land means land that is exempt from mining operations under section 6; exploration licence means an exploration licence under the Mining Act; fossicking means the gathering of precious stones— (a) as a recreation; or (b) without the intention to sell the stones or to utilise them for a commercial or industrial purpose, but does not include the gathering of precious stones through the disturbance of land by machinery or explosives; holder of a tenement means the person who is registered as the holder of the tenement under this Act; machinery means a device operated other than solely by muscular force exerted by the operator; marine waters means the coastal waters of the State (see the Coastal Waters (State Powers) Act 1980 (Cwth)) or that part of the sea that is within the limits of the State, and includes estuaries and tidal waters; minerals has the same meaning as under the Mining Act; Mining Act means the Mining Act 1971; mining operations means operations carried out in the course of prospecting or mining for precious stones, or rehabilitation operations, but does not include fossicking; mining operator or operator means a person by whom, or on whose behalf, mining operations are carried out under this Act; Mintabie Township Lease Agreement and Mintabie township lease area have the same meaning as in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act 1981; native title, native title holder and native title land—see Native Title (South Australia) Act 19943; native title mining determination means a determination authorising a mining operator to enter land and carry out mining operations on the land under Part 7; opal development lease means an opal development lease registered under section 20; opal mining register means the register kept by the Opal Mining Registrar under section 76; opal mining registrar means a person appointed as an opal mining registrar under section 75A and includes the Opal Mining Registrar; Opal Mining Registrar means a person appointed as the Opal Mining Registrar under section 75A and includes a person who is acting in the position of the Opal Mining Registrar; 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; precious stones means opal and other minerals declared by regulation to be precious stones for the purposes of this Act; precious stones claim means a precious stones claim registered under section 20; precious stones prospecting permit or permit means a precious stones prospecting permit issued under section 7; precious stones field means land declared to be a precious stones field by proclamation under section 4; precious stones tenement or tenement means— (a) a precious stones claim; or (b) an opal development lease; prescribed exempt land means exempt land under section 6(1)(a); prescribed notice of entry—see section 32; prospecting means operations carried out in the course of exploring for precious stones, including the pegging out of an area for a tenement, other than operations that involve disturbance of land by declared equipment or explosives, and to prospect has a corresponding meaning; registered representative of native title holders—see Part 4 Native Title (South Australia) Act 1994; rehabilitation of land includes the filling in or sealing of an excavation (including an open-cut excavation), the reinstatement, levelling, contouring and revegetation of land, and the erection of signs and fences, and to rehabilitate has a corresponding meaning; River Murray Protection Area means a River Murray Protection Area under the River Murray Act 2003; Warden's Court means the Warden's Court established under the Mining Act. (2) The division of land under the Mining Act into strata will also have effect for the purposes of this Act and, accordingly, a reference in this Act to land, or an area, will, where appropriate, be taken to be a reference to the surface stratum or a subsurface stratum, as the case requires. (3) In this Act, a reference to mining operations over land includes a reference to mining operations involving land covered by water and a reference to the disturbance of land includes a reference to the disturbance of water. (4) A note to a provision of this Act forms part of the provision to which it relates. 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.