Crown Minerals Act 1991

Permits, access to land, and other matters - Permits, access to land, and title notations - Conditions of permits

35B: Conditions imposing relinquishment obligation: prospecting permits

You could also call this:

"Rules for giving up land when you have a prospecting permit"

Illustration for Crown Minerals Act 1991

When you get a prospecting permit, the Minister can add a condition that says you must give up some of the land. This condition is called a relinquishment obligation. The Minister can only add this condition to certain types of permits, not to permits for petroleum.

The Minister can say you must give up a certain amount of land at a certain time or when something specific happens. The Minister can add this condition to your permit, but only twice, and you can't be made to give up more than half of the original land.

If your permit has a relinquishment obligation, you must draw a map of the land you want to give up and send it to the Minister for approval. The Minister will look at your map and decide whether to approve it, and they can make changes if they want to.

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This page was last updated on 14 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5228927.

Topics:

Environment and resources > ConservationBusiness > Industry rules

35A: Appraisal extension of exploration permits, or

"Asking for more time to explore an area you think might have minerals"

35C: Conditions imposing relinquishment obligation: exploration permits, or

"Rules for giving up parts of an exploration area when you have a permit"

Part 1BPermits, access to land, and other matters
Permits, access to land, and title notations: Conditions of permits

35BConditions imposing relinquishment obligation: prospecting permits

The Minister may impose a condition of the kind described in subsection (2) on—
the grant of a prospecting permit other than a prospecting permit for petroleum; or
the grant of an application for a change to any prospecting permit other than a prospecting permit for petroleum.

The Minister may impose a condition requiring the permit holder to relinquish a specified amount of the permit area at a specified time or on a specified event (a relinquishment obligation).
The Minister may impose a relinquishment obligation not more than twice in relation to a permit, and the total area to be relinquished must not exceed 50% of the original area of land to which the permit applied.
The holder of a permit that is subject to a relinquishment obligation must submit to the Minister for approval, within the time frame specified in the permit condition, a map of the area that the holder proposes to relinquish.
The Minister must consider the map and approve the area to be relinquished, with or without amendment, as he or she thinks fit.

Notes

Section 35B: inserted, on 24 May 2013, by section 27 of the Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 14).