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Reserves Act 1977

Miscellaneous provisions - Mining

109: Application of Mining Act 1971 and Coal Mines Act 1925 to reserves

You could also call this:

"Mining rules for New Zealand reserves: how the law applies to coal mining in special areas"

Illustration for Reserves Act 1977

When you are dealing with reserves, the rules from the Mining Act 1971 still apply. The Governor-General can decide that some reserves with coal in them will follow the rules of the Coal Mines Act 1925. This means the reserve will be treated like Crown land, even if it is not.

If someone wants to mine coal in one of these reserves, they need to get permission from the Minister first. The Minister can say yes or no, or give permission with certain conditions. For scenic reserves, the Coal Mines Act 1925 has some special rules that apply.

You cannot mine coal in a reserve that is meant to protect the soil or control rivers without getting written permission from the Minister for the Environment. If the Governor-General makes an order about this, it is considered secondary legislation, which has its own publication requirements, as explained in Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM445035.

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Part 5Miscellaneous provisions
Mining

109Application of Mining Act 1971 and Coal Mines Act 1925 to reserves

  1. Nothing in this Act shall in any way restrict the operation of any of the provisions of the Mining Act 1971 with respect to dealings under that Act with reserves.

  2. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act or any other Act, the Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, declare to be subject to the Coal Mines Act 1925 or to any specified provisions of that Act, as if it were Crown land as defined by that Act, any reserve within the meaning of this Act consisting of land vested in the Crown or alienated from the Crown as a reserve which contains coal:

    provided that every grant of a coal mining right over any such land so declared to be subject to the Coal Mines Act 1925 or to any specified provisions thereof shall be subject to the consent of the Minister, who may refuse his or her consent or grant it unconditionally or on such conditions as he or she thinks fit to impose:

    provided also that in the case of a scenic reserve this subsection shall be read subject to the Coal Mines Act 1925.

  3. No coal mining right under the Coal Mines Act 1925 may be granted over any reserve for soil conservation or river control or other like purposes except with the prior consent in writing of the Minister for the Environment.

  4. An order under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

Compare
  • 1953 No 69 s 96
  • 1971 No 25 s 245
Notes
  • Section 109(3): amended, on , pursuant to section 52(1) of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Amendment Act 1988 (1988 No 48).
  • Section 109(4): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).