Resource information
This Act makes provision for the control of mining and related operations in the Fiji Islands.The Act consists of 68 sections divided into 7 Parts: General (I); Prospecting and mining (II); Damage and compensation (III); Registration, approval and stamping of documents (IV); Miscellaneous (V); Penalties (VI); Regulations (VII).All minerals of every description, including crude oil,shall be deemed always to have been the property of the Crown and shall be deemed not to have been parted with under any alienation, dedication, lease, licence or permit of such lands save in so far as such rights may in any case have been limited by any express grant made before this Act (sect. 3). The Minister may, by Order, prohibit or restrict prospecting for any specified mineral throughout the whole or any specified part of Fiji, and grant the exclusive right to prospect for any mineral (sect. 4). No person shall prospect or mine in a Government protection area, declared under section 5, without the consent of the Director of Mines. A Mining Appeals Board is constituted under section 10. Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Director may appeal to the Board. Classes of land listed in section 11 shall be closed to prospecting or mining. No mining tenement (i.e. any lease, licence, right, permit, title, easement or privilege, other than a prospector's right, relating to prospecting and mining, lawfully granted or acquired under the provisions of this Act or any former Mining Ordinance) shall be granted to any company incorporated outside Fiji unless such company has first complied with the provisions of Part XII of the Companies Act (sect. 13). Section 16 concerns a deposit as guarantee by persons making an application for a mining tenement. Subject to the provisions of this Act and to any general or special directions of the Minister, the Director may grant: (a) prospector's rights; (b) prospecting licences; (c) special prospecting licences; (d) permits to mine; (e) mining leases; (f) special mining leases; (g) special site rights; and (h) road access licences. Section 20 defines implied covenants in all mining tenements. It shall be an implied condition of every mining tenement that the holder thereof shall pay compensation to the persons entitled thereto for all damage done to the surface of any land and to any improvements thereon by any prospecting, mining or other operations conducted on such land by the holder of such mining tenement (sect. 40). Section 43 provides for the restoration of land by the holder of a mining tenement.
Implemented by: Mining Regulations. (2005-03-21)
Amended by: Mining (Amendment) Decree (No. 39 of 2010). (2010-07-20)
