Minerals development act, 1940

• Act Number: 31
• Enactment Date: 14 November 1940

Number 31 of 1940.
MINERALS DEVELOPMENT ACT, 1940.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART I
Preliminary
Section 1. Short title. 2. Definitions. 3. “Minerals”. 4. State mining rights under the Land Purchase Acts. 5. “State minerals”. 6. “Ancillary rights”.
PART II
Right of Entering and Prospecting Unworked Minerals and Grant of Prospecting Licences
7. Entering and prospecting for minerals. 8. Prospecting licences. 9. Applications for prospecting licences. 10. Compensation for damage under Part II. 11. Restriction on working minerals by licensees. 12. Revocation and termination of prospecting licences. 13. Undertaking by Minister to grant leases.
PART III
Compulsory Acquisition of Unworked Minerals and of Mining Facilities
14. Minerals acquisition orders. 15. Publications and services in respect of minerals acquisition orders. 16. Compensation for State acquired minerals. 17. Claims for compensation for State acquired minerals. 18. Surrender by the Minister of an exclusive mining right. 19. Compulsory acquisition of land and ancillary rights. 20. Notices in respect of mining facilities acquisition orders. 21. Compensation for mining facilities. 22. Licences in respect of State acquired minerals. 23. Applications for licences in respect of State acquired minerals. 24. Form and contents of licences in respect of State acquired minerals. 25. Compensation for damage under Part III.
PART IV
State Minerals
26. State mining leases. 27. Furnishing of information by lessees of State mining leases. 28. Grant of State mining permissions. 29. Saving in respect of State lands. 30. Right of Minister to work and dispose of State minerals. 31. Right of entry and user of land containing State minerals. 32. Fencing of abandoned State minerals.
PART V
The Mining Board
33. Establishment of the Mining Board. 34. Regulations for proceedings before Board. 35. Powers of Board. 36. Entry on land by the Board or officers thereof. 37. Staff of the Board.
PART VI
Facilities for Development of Privately Owned Minerals and Grant of Restrictions on Working Minerals Required for the Support of Land or Buildings
38. Applications for unworked minerals licences. 39. Restrictions on the grant of unworked minerals licences. 40. Applications for ancillary rights licences. 41. Restrictions on the grant of ancillary rights licences. 42. Applications for preservation of support orders. 43. Restrictions on the grant of preservation of support orders. 44. Preliminary consideration of applications and references to Board. 45. Fees on applications. 46. Inquiry and report by Board in relation to applications. 47. Grant of applications by Minister. 48. Form and operation of unworked minerals licences. 49. Form and operation of ancillary rights licences. 50. Form and operation of preservation of support orders. 51. Restricted effect of grant of licences and orders. 52. Grant of licences and orders to persons in a fiduciary capacity. 53. Compensation under Part VI. 54. Expenses of the Board in relation to inquiries. 55. Costs of the parties at inquiries. 56. Furnishing of information to Minister by licensees.
PART VII
Compensation
57. Definitions for purposes of Part VII. 58. Determination of the amount of compensation. 59. Applications for compensation in respect of land. 60. Agreed compensation in respect of land subject to land purchase annuity. 61. Applications for compensation for State acquired minerals. 62. Applications for compensation under Part VI. 63. Fees on applications for compensation. 64. Right of audience on hearings before the Board. 65. Awards of compensation. 66. Awards of compensation in respect of land subject to land purchase annuity. 67. Basis for assessment of compensation in respect of minerals and ancillary rights. 68. Form of compensation for State acquired minerals and for unworked minerals licences. 69. Compensation in the case of unascertained persons. 70. Finality of Board's decisions on questions of fact. 71. Cases stated on questions of law. 72. Deductions from compensation of debts due to the State. 73. Awards of costs.
PART VIII
Miscellaneous and General
74. Prohibition on working minerals without lawful authority. 75. Minister to be given notice of shafts and boreholes. 76. Powers of Inspectors. 77. Laying of half-yearly reports before the Oireachtas. 78. Disposal of moneys received as consideration. 79. Collection and disposal of fees. 80. Regulations. 81. Expenses. 82. Amendment of the Foreshore Act, 1933. 83. Repeal of the Act of 1931.
SCHEDULE
Acts Referred to Mines and Minerals Act, 1931 No. 54 of 1931 Land Act, 1923 No. 42 of 1923 Foreshore Act, 1933 No. 12 of 1933 Acquisition of Land (Reference Committee) Act, 1925 No. 22 of 1925 National Monuments Act, 1930 No. 2 of 1930
Number 31 of 1940.
MINERALS DEVELOPMENT ACT, 1940.
AN ACT TO MAKE FURTHER AND BETTER PROVISION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND WORKING OF THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE. [14th November, 1940.]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—
PART I. Preliminary.
	Short title.	1.—This Act may be cited as the Minerals Development Act, 1940.
	Definitions.	2.—In this Act—
	the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;
	the expression “the Land Commission” means the Irish Land Commission;
	the expression “the Act of 1931” means the Mines and Minerals Act, 1931 (No. 54 of 1931);
	the expression “land purchase annuity” means a land purchase annuity payable under the Land Purchase Acts to the Land Commission;
	the word “rent” includes any periodical payment in the nature of rent;
	the expression “royalty rent” means a rent calculated by reference to the quantity, price, or value of minerals gotten;
	the word “surface”, when used in relation to land, includes any buildings, works, or things erected, constructed or growing on such land;
	the word “working”, when used in relation to minerals, includes digging, searching for, mining, getting, raising, taking, carrying away, treating, and converting such minerals, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;
	the expression “exclusive mining right” means a right of working minerals vested in any person exclusive of any other person;
	the expression “scheduled mineral” means any substance mentioned in the Schedule to this Act;
	the expression “mineral compound” means any substance formed by the chemical combination of one scheduled mineral with any other such mineral;
	the expression “mineral substance” means any substance of a similar nature to any scheduled mineral;
	the word “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act.
	“Minerals”.	3.—In this Act (save where the context otherwise requires) the word “minerals” means all substances (other than the agricultural surface of the ground and other than turf or peat) in, on, or under land, whether obtainable by underground or by surface working, and includes all mines, whether they are or are not already opened or in work, and also includes the cubic space occupied or formerly occupied by minerals, and, for greater certainty but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the said word includes all scheduled minerals.
	State mining rights under the Land Purchase Acts.	4.—(1) Every State mining right to which this section applies shall include and be deemed always to have included a right to work scheduled minerals, mineral compounds, and mineral sub-stances within the meaning of this Act, and in this Act, the word “minerals”, when used in relation to any such State mining right, shall be construed accordingly.
	(2) In this section, the expression “State mining right to which this section applies” means any such exclusive right of mining and taking minerals, and digging and searching for minerals as is mentioned in sub-section (3) of section 13 of the Irish Land Act, 1903 , or in sub-section (5) of section 45 of the Land Act, 1923 (No. 42 of 1923), which is, at the passing of this Act, or becomes, after such passing, vested in the State, either by virtue of the said sub-section (3), as amended by section 2 of the Act of 1931 and adapted in consequence of the enactment of the Constitution, or by virtue of the said sub-section (5) as so adapted.
	(3) Notwithstanding the repeal by this Act of the Act of 1931, the following enactments, that is to say:—
	(a) the second proviso to sub-section (3) of section 13 of the Irish Land Act, 1903 ,
	(b) sub-section (4) of the said section 13 (so far only as relates to State mining rights to which this section applies),
	(c) section 1 of the Irish Land Act, 1907 , and
	(d) section 37 of the Irish Land Act, 1909 ,
	shall continue to apply to any letting, lease, sale or demise of any State mining right to which this section applies made by the Land Commission before the passing of the Act of 1931.
	“State minerals”.	5.—The following minerals and exclusive mining rights shall be State minerals for the purposes of this...