This article pulls together the practical steps in the Mining Act 1992 and the Environment Act 2000 from a landowner group’s point of view.
Step 1 — organise before you negotiate
- Settle who the group is. Membership and boundaries decide who is compensated and who speaks. A land dispute does not stop the tenement — it only sends the money into a statutory trust until resolved.
- Consider incorporating a land group under the Land Groups Incorporation Act. It gives the group a constitution, a membership list and a legal identity — and it is the only entity other than a citizen that may hold an alluvial mining lease.
- Decide, in writing, who represents the group and on what authority. The Minister invites persons who will fairly represent the views of the landholders to a development forum; a Warden must satisfy himself that those at a hearing are affected persons.
- Agree, in writing and in advance, how any money will be shared — before there is money to argue about.
- Engage your own advisers, instructed and paid for by the group, not by the company.
Step 2 — build the record
Photograph the land, with dates. Record GPS points and draw a sketch map. Count and classify the trees and plantings, by species and maturity — compensation for economic trees is determined by reference to the Valuer-General’s published values under section 154(3). List and value the improvements — houses, fences, tanks, sheds. Keep receipts for produce sold. Mark the water sources, gardens, burial grounds, sacred sites and tracks.
That record is the foundation of every claim that follows — and it can never be reconstructed once the ground is cleared.
Step 3 — watch for the two early signals
- Marking out — corner posts at least 1.2 m above the surface, with cleared lines or markers along the boundaries, must be in place before an application for any tenement other than an exploration licence. Photograph them and ask who placed them.
- Notice of the application — under section 106, a copy goes to the provincial government, the National Gazette, the nearest District and Sub-District Offices, a national newspaper, and is continuously posted at the headquarters of the Authority. The objection and hearing dates are endorsed on the application.
Ask the Registrar of Tenements what has been lodged and granted over your land.
Step 4 — object, and turn up
| Step | Timing |
|---|---|
| Registrar fixes the dates | Within 7 days of registering the application |
| Objections close — any person, in writing, to the Registrar | At least 30 days after registration |
| Warden’s hearing | 7 to 14 days after objections close |
| Warden’s report to the Council | Within 14 days of the hearing |
Under section 110(4)(c) the Council may defer and require the applicant to amend the application or provide revised programmes or proposals. Because compliance with the approved programme or proposals is a mandatory condition, whatever is written in becomes enforceable — and its breach a ground for cancellation.
So ask for the road to be moved, the camp relocated, the water source and burial ground excluded, the area reduced, the access crossings built, the monitoring set.
Step 5 — compensation, done properly
Section 155 — the holder shall not enter onto or occupy the land for the purpose of mining until a compensation agreement has been made and registered, or compensation has been determined and paid or tendered.
- Build the claim from the section 154 heads — loss of use, damage to the surface, severance, rights of way, improvements, lost earnings, disruption of agriculture, and social disruption; plus foreseen future loss and neighbouring land under section 154(6).
- Check the section 156 procedure. A draft agreement must go to the Chief Warden before execution; he has 14 days to say he will recommend registration or to request amendments. An agreement that skips this is not valid.
- If you cannot agree, ask for a determination under section 157 — a right that belongs to claimants to disputed land as well.
- Get it registered or recorded in writing; under section 159 it then becomes a condition of the tenement and binding as a contract.
- Consider section 87 of the Environment Act as well — it covers customary water rights and flora and fauna, and reaches people with customary rights in their own name.
Step 6 — use the environment process
A mine is normally a level 3 activity requiring full impact assessment. That process has its own public review, in which any person may make submissions, and it requires the statement to address social as well as physical impacts.
- Watch for the advertisement of the statement’s availability, and ask for a copy.
- Attend the public presentation the Director may require the proponent to make to persons likely to be affected.
- Address the section 58(2) criteria by name — the matters of national importance, the character, resilience and beneficial values of the receiving environment, the suitability of the applicant, and best practice environmental management.
- Ask the Provincial Environment Committee to comment — the Director must refer the statement to it before completing the assessment.
- Ask about the environmental bond: how much, in what form, and on what conditions it is released.
The traps to avoid
- Do not accept a payment for permitting entry, or a share of production dressed up as compensation. Under section 154(4) it is not payable, and under section 154(5) paying it is an offence carrying up to K10,000 or five years.
- Do not sign at the meeting. Take the draft away, check it has been to the Chief Warden, and get advice.
- Do not obstruct physically. Section 167(4)(h) makes obstructing the exercise of a right under the Act an offence. Record it and take it to the Warden and the Registrar instead.
- Do not let one person negotiate alone, or receive money on behalf of everyone without a written mandate.
- Do not wait until after the grant. Under section 120(2)(a), except for fraud, irregularities in the process before grant do not affect the registered holder’s title.
Step 7 — keep watching
- Every two years, an exploration licence comes up for extension — which depends on compliance and on compensation having been paid, on the Chief Warden’s advice. Object under section 107 if it has not been.
- Report breaches of conditions in writing to the Managing Director, the Chief Warden and the Registrar.
- Read the monitoring reports on the Environment Register, open to any person at all reasonable times.
- Claim further loss as it emerges — section 157(5) allows a partial determination with the balance deferred to a later hearing.
- Plan for closure — section 152 on plant, tailings and ore, the section 150 security, and the rehabilitation conditions under both Acts.
Get advice early and keep it — the Public Solicitor, or a firm from the law firms directory.
Sources
- Mining Act 1992 — ss 3, 4, 28, 96, 97, 105–112, 120, 142, 150, 152, 154–160, 167
- Environment Act 2000 — ss 5, 42, 50–59, 87, 99, 131
- Land Groups Incorporation Act — PacLII 1986 Revised Edition
- Land Disputes Settlement Act (Chapter 45)
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Mining Act 1992 and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.