30Rights to prospect, explore, mine

1. Subject to section 8, the holder of a current prospecting permit shall have a right to prospect for the mineral, in the land, and on the conditions, stated in the permit, whether the mineral is owned by the Crown or privately owned.

2. Subject to section 8, the holder of a current exploration permit shall have the rights of a holder of a current prospecting permit and, in addition, a right to explore for the Crown owned mineral, in the land, and on the conditions, stated in the permit.

3. Subject to section 8 and subsections (4) and (5), the holder of a mining permit shall have the rights of a holder of a current exploration permit and, in addition, a right to mine the Crown owned mineral, in the land, and on the conditions, stated in the permit.

4. Where a mining permit states that the right to mine only applies to a specified discovery of a mineral, the right to mine shall only extend to that discovery.

5. Where a mining permit states that the right to mine only applies to a specified discovery of a mineral, and the holder of the permit makes a further discovery in relation to a mineral and land to which the permit relates, the permit holder shall only have a right to receive a mining permit in accordance with section 32 in relation to that discovery—

6. if within 12 months after making the further discovery, the permit holder notifies the Minister in writing of the making of the discovery and that the permit holder is interested in applying for a permit to mine the discovery; and
7. within the period notified to the permit holder under subsection (6).

8. On receiving a notice from a permit holder under subsection (5), the Minister shall notify the permit holder in writing of the period which in the Minister's opinion is reasonable to allow for—

9. the carrying out of the necessary appraisal work in respect of the discovery; and
10. the preparation of a work programme for the mining of the discovery (unless the permit is a Tier 3 permit); and
11. the consideration and granting of an application for a permit to mine the discovery.

12. Subject to subsection (8) and unless the permit expressly provides otherwise, the rights referred to in subsections (1) to (3) are exclusive to the permit holder.

13. A permit conferring all or any of the same rights as a current permit in respect of all or part of the same land and the same mineral may only be granted to a person other than the holder of the current permit with the prior written consent of the current permit holder.