This Bill has been prepared in response to legal advice to the present and preceding Ministers for Transport, Energy and Communications that certain gaps in the Minerals Development Acts, 1940 to 1979, should be filled as quickly as possible. The main purpose of the Bill is to give specific statutory cover for certain long standing practices for renewal of minerals prospecting licences and for charging fees for applications for certain State mining facilities.
The second purpose of the Bill is to maintain an effective deterrence against illegal mining and other offences by updating the original penalties in the Minerals Development Act, 1940, and applying them to offences by companies and other organisations. That Act already provided for offences by individuals.
Since the detailed financial and explanatory memorandum published with the Bill deals with all provisions of the Bill in some detail, I propose to concentrate my remarks on the general background to the Bill and the reasons why, with the assistance of this House, the Bill should be enacted soon. I shall also refer to the development of a national minerals policy, to which the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications is now giving priority attention.
Since the Minerals Development Act, 1940, came into operation thousands of minerals prospecting licences have been granted by successive Ministers following public newspaper advertisements of the intention to grant the licence and consideration of any representations made. Representations are very rare, which is hardly surprising given the responsible way in which holders of minerals prospecting licences generally go about their business.
Many of these licences were renewed, in some cases a number of times, by successive Ministers in good faith, including hundreds of licences currently in force. The long standing practice of renewals and successive renewals has not given rise to any difficulty or challenge. However, legal advice has drawn attention to the lack of statutory provision for licence renewals and put the case that fresh licences should have been granted after the term of the original licence expired.
Therefore, there is a pressing need for legislation to validate all renewals to date and to specifically empower the Minister to renew any of those licences and any other licences granted in the future where the Minister considers that renewal is justified in the particular circumstances of each case. Clearly, without the legislation now proposed to effectively safeguard the status quo, there would be considerable disruption to the renewal process for all concerned. Sections 2 to 4 of the Bill refer.
I draw the attention of the House to section 2 (d) which, in the interests of transparency, imposes the same obligation on the Minister to publicly advertise the intention to renew a minerals prospecting licence as applies in all cases when such a licence is proposed to be granted for the first time.
There are currently 431 minerals prospecting licences in force of which about 300 would fall due for renewal in 1995 and the rest would fall due for renewal in 1996 or later. The Minerals Development Acts, 1940 to 1979, require the Minister to give details of minerals prospecting licences in force in a twice-yearly report to the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Minister's report for the six months to 31 December 1994 was presented to this House and to Dáil Éireann on 2 February 1995.
The essential focus of minerals prospecting activity is to identify as quickly as possible all commercially viable deposits which could be developed. All holders of minerals prospecting licences are encouraged to undertake minerals prospecting in a very active and systematic way.
Renewals of minerals prospecting licences are considered strictly on a case by case basis. Thus, whether the licence will be renewed in a particular case will depend, first, on whether the licensee seeks renewal of the licence. About 100 licences are surrendered each year by licensees, some of whom seek licences for other areas perceived to be more prospective.
If renewal is sought, the exploration and mining division of the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications would give particular attention to actual performance to date by the licensee, including the submission of required work reports, whether all of the other conditions of the licence have been complied with and whether the undertakings given by the licensee have been honoured. If actual performance to date was satisfactory, the licensee would have to enter into a commitment to undertake a specific further programme of exploration in the area in question before renewal of the licence would be agreed. If, however, actual performance was unsatisfactory, the licence would not be renewed. Indeed, if the circumstances warranted it, the licence would be revoked before its term expired. Hence, licence holders are encouraged to perform.
Geologists from the exploration and mining division of the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications closely monitor exploration activity and conduct many site visits throughout the State. Licensees are obliged to give to the division at least two weeks advance notice in writing of proposed borehole and shaft sinking to a depth of more than 20 feet below the surface and to obtain the division's written approval at least 20 working days in advance for proposed trenching operations. These requirements provide opportunities for the division's geologists to conduct particularly focused and detailed site visits, the outcome of which could have a direct bearing on whether the particular licences in question or other licences held by the particular licensee ought to be renewed.
In short, the exploration and mining division of my Department maintains close liaison with licensees with a view to encouraging them to explore thoroughly for commercially viable deposits and to bring forward sound development proposals as quickly as possible.
A special incentive to encourage minerals exploration in unexplored ground was announced by the Minister in conjunction with the annual May licence competition. The ground in question represents over 400 licence areas, or about one half of the total licence areas in the State which have never been explored or have not been explored for at least four years. The incentive takes the form of a reduced fee of £1,000 for a six year licence as compared with the standard fee of £2,500, and less onerous work and expenditure requirements than apply to explored ground. The incentive has been welcomed by the minerals industry as an attractive one.
Subject to meeting the requisite technical, financial and environmental criteria, and certain specific procedural requirements where privately owned minerals are involved, a successful licensed minerals prospector would be favourably considered by the Minister for the grant of a State mining facility. Every encouragement is given by the Department to licensees at minerals prospecting stage to work assiduously so as to identify commercially viable deposits for development.
The Department also assists licensees in identifying as early as possible all steps needed to be taken by the licensees to secure the necessary permits for the development from the relevant authorities, that is the Department itself, the relevant local planning authority and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Department works closely with other permitting authorities in order to ensure that applications are comprehensively and speedily examined by all concerned, having due regard to the specific and separate statutory code applicable to each of these authorities.
The Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, as national licensing authority for mines, must ensure that all proposals for mine development are thoroughly and expertly examined before permission is granted to proceed with them. The Minerals Development Acts, 1940 to 1979, specifically require the Minister to satisfy himself or herself that the public interest would be served by the granting of a State mining lease or licence in any particular case.
There is no question of rubber stamping any mining proposal from any developer. The Minister must ensure that valuable national minerals resources are effectively and efficiently developed and State revenues therefrom assured. In addition, in accordance with the obligation on each Minister to protect the environment, the Minister must also be satisfied before permitting the development of national minerals resources that the development will cause as little harm as possible to the environment.
Furthermore, the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 1994, SI No. 86, stipulate that the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications must receive a copy of the environmental impact statement, prepared by the developer of any mine project, at the time the developer submits an application for planning permission to the relevant planning authority. Staff of the Department's exploration and mining division and of the Geological Survey of Ireland, which operates under the aegis of the Department, are directly involved in examining all proposals for mine projects.
In the case of small mine projects, involving minerals such as coal or industrial minerals generally, the engagement of external consultants would not usually be necessary. In the case of larger mine projects, however, the Minister needs the best possible independent external advice so as to address properly all the key issues arising. This is particularly so in cases involving base metals, such as the major proposed zinc lead mines at Galmoy, County Kilkenny, and at Lisheen, County Tipperary, which would have major infrastructural and financial considerations as well as possible implications for the environment.
The Minister requires the best mining practices and also minimising, if not avoiding, all possible long term negative effects of the mines if they were to proceed. This means that the Minister has to call for advice upon suitably qualified and experienced external consultants from relevant disciplines, notably mine and mine plant engineering, hydrogeology, chemistry and geostatistics, which have the required international standing.
Due to the small number of mines in the State, independent expert advice of the required level would not ordinarily be available within the State, except perhaps in relation to some limited aspects of mine projects. Where applications for a State mining lease or licence are successful, the practice has been to recoup handling costs as part of the fees for the State mining facility for the project. There is no mechanism in place to recoup handling costs necessarily incurred by the Minister in considering applications which turned out to be unsuccessful or are later withdrawn for any reason.
Section 5 of the Bill is designed to fill the gap in the Minerals Development Acts, 1940 to 1979, by specifically requiring all applicants for State mining leases or licences to pay an appropriate application fee. As heretofore, that fee will be kept as low as possible, consistent with a thorough independent assessment of each individual application. No two mineral deposits are the same and hence neither could two mining projects be the same. As amended by Dáil Éireann, section 5 requires the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications to make regulations in order to specify such fees from the date on which the Bill becomes law. Thus, for the future there will be a transparent and flexible mechanism for specifying such fees and for quickly revising those fees if required. Such regulations will be subject to standard review by both Houses of the Oireachtas.
These new arrangements represent a very considerable improvement on the ad hoc arrangements which applied heretofore. The Minister proposes to specify the following application fees in regulations to be made under section 5 of the Bill: metalliferous minerals, such as zinc, lead, etc, £15,000 plus 10p per annual tonne of the design capacity of the mine. The greater of £15,000 or 50 per cent of the total fee will be payable on application and the balance within six months of application. For other minerals, such as gypsum, calcite, dolomite or dolomitic limestone, etc, the application fee will be payable on application: (i) £5,000 if the design capacity is less than 100,000 tonnes per annum; (ii) £10,000 in other cases.
The need to legislate for renewal of mineral prospecting licences and for application fees to be charged for State mining facilities provides the opportunity to legislate also for updating the original penalties in the 1940 Act for a variety of offences. The penalties have become derisory through the fall in the value of money. The offences relate to illegal working of minerals, obstruction of authorised persons and failure to provide required information to the Minister. Clearly, there is continuing need to deter would-be offenders by having updated penalties which can be applied specifically to offences committed by individuals, whether acting alone or behind a corporate veil. Sections 6 and 7 of the Bill refer and will allow the courts to impose penalties fitting particular offences and circumstances if such arise in the future.
The Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications is determined to ensure that, with the proper application of modern technology and mining techniques, the mineral resources of the nation will be developed with proper safeguards for the environment. These are national assets which must be developed responsibly so as to achieve the maximum benefit in terms of job creation, increasing national wealth and underpinning industrial growth. It is vital that every effort be made to locate all commercially viable mineral reserves and, having done so, to bring them into production as efficiently as possible. The aim is to support as strongly as possible the principle of sustainable development for the benefit of the nation as a whole.
The recent report with recommendations of the national minerals policy review group will provide an important input into the development of a sound national minerals policy for the future. The report and recommendations are being examined by the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications as a priority. Each Member of the Seanad and Dáil received a copy of the report on publication, on 12 May 1995. The Minister and I look forward to receiving the considered views of Members and to a wide ranging and overdue public debate so as to help shape national minerals policy for the future.
The Bill before the House does not prejudice in any way the fundamental review of national minerals policy and the Minerals Development Acts, 1940 to 1979, which is underway following publication of the review group's report. On the contrary, the Bill is required to fill as quickly as possible important gaps in the Minerals Developments Acts which the Minister's advisers and those of his predecessor have identified. I commend the Bill to the House.