Re Geran

The matter before the court involved an application by Gregory Ross Geran and Frederick Salkanovic for a mining lease over land near Chiltern Hills, pursuant to Section 245 of the Mineral Resources Act 1989. The applicants sought the lease to mine for opal over the whole area for a term of 10 years. The application was lodged on 11 June 2008 and no objections were received by the closing date of 3 October 2008. The applicants requested the matter be dealt with on the papers by a member sitting alone, which the court granted.

The legal issues the court was required to decide included whether the provisions of the Mineral Resources Act 1989 had been complied with, whether the land applied for was mineralised or the other purposes sought were appropriate, whether the applicants had the necessary financial and technical capabilities, and whether the proposed mining operation was an appropriate land use. The court considered the material supplied by the applicants and the Mining Registrar in determining these issues.

The court found that the provisions of the Act had been complied with, the land was mineralised, the applicants had the necessary financial and technical capabilities, and the proposed mining operation was an appropriate land use. The court was satisfied there was sufficient information before it to properly consider the application. Based on its assessment of the evidence, the court recommended to the Minister for Mines and Energy that the Mining Lease be granted over the whole of the application area for the purpose and term sought by the applicants.

The final orders were for the hearing of the application to be dispensed with and for the court to recommend to the Minister that the Mining Lease No. 95590 be granted to Gregory Ross Geran (50%) and Frederick Salkanovic (50%) over the whole of the application area for a term of 10 years.