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Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
What obligations does the rights holder have? If exploration or reconnaissance licences are granted, does such tenure give the holder an automatic or preferential right to acquire a mining licence? What are the requirements to convert to a mining licence?All mining rights are acquired in accordance with the provisions of the Mines Act. Mining rights under the Mines Act consist of a mining licence or an exploration licence. A person may therefore only prospect for minerals or carry on mining operations under the authority of a mining right granted under the Mines Act.All mining rights are acquired by application to the director of mines cadastre by submitting a prescribed form and paying the prescribed fee by either an individual or a company. Mining rights are granted on a first-come, first-served basis by either the director of mines or the director of geological survey, where the application meets the requirements of the Mines Act.The following mining rights may be acquired: an exploration licence and a mining licence. The Mines Act also provides for non-mining rights, which are a mineral processing licence, mineral trading permit, mineral import permit, mineral export permit and a gold panning certificate.The Mines Act confers obligations on specific licence holders, as follows.Exploration licenceThe area of land over which an application for an exploration licence is made should be represented by complete and specific cadastre units. The minimum size of a small-scale exploration area is three cadastre units (approximately 0.1km2) and this cannot exceed 300 cadastre units (approximately 10.2km2). For large-scale exploration the minimum area of exploration is 300 cadastre units (approximately 10.2km2), while the maximum area must not exceed 59,880 cadastre units (approximately 1,999km2).A holder of an exploration licence (ie, a company and its subsidiaries) may not hold a number of licences whose accumulated total area is more than 299,400 cadastre units (approximately 9,999km2). A company that accumulates an exploration area in excess of 149,700 cadastre units (approximately 4,999km2) must pay prescribed additional fees.Exploration licences are valid for a period of four years and can be renewed for two further periods of three years each. The maximum period of an initial exploration licence is 10 years.The holder of an exploration licence has the following obligations:commence exploration operations, only once a decision letter (written approval) in respect of the environmental project brief approved by the ZEMA has been submitted to the mining cadastre office;register a pegging certificate within 180 days of acquiring or being granted the exploration licence;expend on exploration operations not less than the amount prescribed or required by the terms of the licence to be so expended;carry on exploration operations in accordance with the programme of exploration operations;notify the director of mining cadastre of the discovery of
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