Re Van Den Elsen

The applicants, Martin John Van Den Elsen and Peter Paul Van Den Elsen, applied for a mining lease under section 245 of the Mineral Resources Act 1989 for land approximately 5 km north of Helidon to mine for sandstone and establish a site for overburden, living quarters, and water supply for a term of fifty years. The application was lodged with the Mining Registrar at Brisbane on 16 September 2005, and no objections were lodged before the closing date of 16 December 2005. The applicants requested that the matter be dealt with on the papers by a member sitting alone.

The court was required to decide whether the application met the criteria specified in section 269(4) of the Mineral Resources Act 1989. These criteria included whether the provisions of the Act had been complied with, whether the land applied for was mineralised or the other purposes for which the lease was sought were appropriate, whether there would be an acceptable level of development and utilisation of the mineral resources within the area applied for, and whether the land and the surface area of the land in respect of which the mining lease was sought were of an appropriate size and shape. The court was also required to consider whether the term sought was appropriate, whether the applicants had the necessary financial and technical capabilities to carry on mining operations under the proposed mining lease, whether the past performance of the applicants had been satisfactory, whether any disadvantage would result to the holders of existing exploration permits or mineral development licences or existing applicants for exploration permits or mineral development licences, whether the operations to be carried on under the authority of the mining lease conformed to sound land use management, whether there would be any adverse environmental impacts, and whether the public right and interest would be prejudiced. The court was also required to consider whether there was any good reason for a refusal to grant the mining lease and whether the proposed mining operation was an appropriate land use.

The court considered the evidence provided by the applicants and the Mining Registrar, including the Additional Information and Statutory Declaration sworn by the applicants, and the Mining Registrar’s Report in relation to this application. The court was satisfied that the provisions of the Act had been complied with, that the land was mineralised and the purposes for which the lease was sought were appropriate, that there would be an acceptable level of development and utilisation of the mineral resources within the area applied for, and that the land and the surface area of the land in respect of which the mining lease was sought were of an appropriate size and shape. The court was also satisfied that the term sought was appropriate, that the applicants had the necessary financial and technical capabilities to carry on mining operations under the proposed mining lease, that the past performance of the applicants had been satisfactory, that there would be no disadvantage to the holders of existing exploration permits or mineral development licences or existing applicants for exploration permits or mineral development licences, that the operations to be carried on under the authority of the mining lease conformed to sound land use management, and that there would be no adverse environmental impacts or prejudice to the public right and interest. The court considered that the proposed mining operation was an appropriate land use.

The court recommended that the Honourable the Minister for Mines and Energy grant the Mining Lease over the whole of the application area for the purpose and term sought by the applicants.

The final orders were that a hearing of the application be dispensed with and that the court recommended to the Honourable the Minister for Mines and Energy that Mining Lease No. 50218 be granted over the whole of the application area for a term of 50 years to Martin John Van Den Elsen (50%) and Peter Paul Van Den Elsen (50%).