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MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - LONG
TITLE

An Act to make further provision for the Geological Survey of
Northern Ireland; to transfer certain functions respecting mines and
minerals to the Ministry of Commerce; to make further provision with
respect to mines, minerals and quarries and operations connected
therewith; and for purposes connected with those matters.
[8th December 1959]
PART I

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
1

1.(1) The Ministry of Commerce (in this Act referred to as "the
Ministry") shall be the Ministry responsible for the establishment of
the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland and for the administration
of all matters relating thereto.

(2) Any functions at any time heretofore exercised or exercisable by
any other department of the Government of Northern Ireland under any
enactment relating to geological survey in Northern Ireland shall
become and be functions of the Ministry.

(3) The provisions set out in the First Schedule shall have effect
in relation to the functions transferred to the Ministry under
sub-section (2); ....

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
2
Appointment of officers and servants.

2.(1) The Minister of Commerce (in this Act referred to as "the
Minister") may appoint any person to act as Director of Geological
Survey in Northern Ireland on such conditions as to remuneration and
otherwise as the Ministry, with the approval of the Ministry of
Finance, may determine and may also, with the approval of the
Ministry of Finance as to numbers, salaries and remuneration, appoint
such other officers and servants to assist in the administration of
geological survey as the Ministry may think fit.

Subs.(2) rep. by 1969 c.35 (NI) s.62 sch.4 Pt.I

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
3
Powers of Ministry.

3.(1) For the purpose of making and completing a geological survey
of Northern Ireland, or any part thereof, any authorised officer and
any person assisting such authorised officer may, subject to the
following provisions of this section, enter upon land and there do
all such things as are in the opinion of the Ministry or such
authorised officer necessary or desirable for the purpose of the
geological survey and, in particular, break up the surface of any
part of such lands [and make boreholes or excavations therein] for
the purpose of ascertaining the rocks, strata, or minerals within or
under the same, and take and carry away specimens of the rocks,
strata, or minerals found therein and fix any post, stone, mark, or
object to be used in the survey and dig up any ground for the
purpose of fixing such post, stone, mark, or object.

(2) In exercising the powers conferred by sub-section (1) no post,
stone, mark, or object shall be fixed within any walled garden,
orchard, or pleasure garden without the consent of the owner or
occupier thereof.

(3) The Ministry shall not exercise, in respect of any land, the
powers conferred on it by sub-section (1) before it has served on
the occupier of such land notice in writing of its intention to
exercise such powers.

(4) Where, in the exercise on any lands of any of the powers
conferred by this section, any damage is caused, the Ministry shall
pay to the owner or occupier of those lands such compensation as
may be agreed upon between the Ministry and that owner or occupier
or as may in default of agreement be assessed by a court of
summary jurisdiction upon application made to it by either party
within twelve months after the damage has been caused.

(5) On an application made to it under sub-section (4) a court of
summary jurisdiction may make such order (including an order for the
payment of costs) as it may consider reasonable and such order
shall have the like effect as an order made by the court in the
exercise of its civil jurisdiction.

(6) Any person who obstructs or impedes the Ministry or any
authorised officer or person assisting an authorised officer in the
exercise of the powers conferred on the Ministry or such officer or
person assisting such officer by sub-section (1) shall be guilty of
an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary
conviction to a fine not exceeding [#20].[

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
4
Ministry to be given notice of mineral prospecting or development
work and of shafts, boreholes, etc.

4.(1) Where a person proposes

(a)to undertake mineral prospecting or development work, or

(b)for any other purpose to sink a shaft, borehole or well or make
an excavation intended to reach a depth of more than fifty feet
below the surface or to extend any existing shaft, borehole, well
or excavation (whether or not it has already reached that depth) to
reach any greater depth beyond fifty feet,

(2) A person who undertakes mineral prospecting or development work
shall keep a record thereof, and a person who, for any other
purpose, sinks a shaft, borehole or well or makes an excavation
intended to reach a depth of more than fifty feet below the
surface or extends any existing shaft, borehole, well or excavation
as aforesaid shall, unless the Ministry in writing otherwise directs,
keep a journal thereof, and every such person shall keep for a
period of not less than two months or such longer period as the
Ministry may so direct

(a)such specimens of minerals as may have been obtained in the
course of the work, or

(b)such specimens of the strata passed through as may have been
obtained in the course of the sinking or extension of the shaft,
borehole or well, or the making or extension of the excavation,

(3) An authorised officer shall be entitled at all reasonable times
to do all or any of the following things, that is to say:

(a)have free access to

(i)all parts of the place where any mineral prospecting or
development work is being undertaken, or

(ii)any shaft, borehole, well or excavation such as is mentioned in
sub-section (1), or

<(iii)any specimen such as is mentioned in sub-section (2);

(b)inspect and take copies of records of such work or journals of
such shafts, boreholes, wells or excavations;

(c)require the person undertaking any such work or sinking or
extending any such shaft, borehole or well, or making or extending
any such excavation, to supply such other information (including,
where the circumstances permit, information as to the proposed
conduct of the operations and as to the grade of deposit, and
estimated reserves, of minerals) as the authorised officer may
consider reasonably necessary;

(d)inspect all specimens obtained or kept as mentioned in sub-section
(2);

(e)take samples of any such specimens.

(4) If any person undertaking any such work or sinking or extending
any such shaft, borehole, or well, or making or extending any such
excavation as aforesaid serves notice in writing on the Ministry
requesting the Ministry to treat as confidential any copies of
records or journals or any specimens of minerals or strata taken
by, or any information supplied to, an authorised officer under
sub-section (3), the Ministry, until the expiration of such period
not exceeding five years from the date on which the copies or, as
the case may be, the specimens were so taken, or the information
was so supplied, as may be specified in the notice, shall not
allow the copies or specimens to be shown, or the information to
be disclosed, to any person who is not an officer of the Ministry
except with the consent of the first-mentioned person.

(5) The period mentioned in sub-section (4) may, by notice served
as so mentioned before the expiry of that period requesting that
the period be extended, be extended for an additional period not
exceeding five years, but no further.

(6) If any person undertaking any mineral prospecting or development
work or sinking or extending any shaft, borehole or well, or making
or extending any excavation, such as is mentioned in sub-section (1)

(a)fails to comply with the obligations imposed by or under this
section, or

(b)in any record or journal required to be kept, or in supplying
any information, under this section knowingly or recklessly makes any
entry or statement which is false in a material particular, or

(c)wilfully obstructs an authorised officer in the exercise of any
of the powers conferred on him by this section,

(7) Where any person contracts to undertake on behalf of any other
person mineral prospecting or development work or to sink or extend
a shaft, borehole or well or make or extend an excavation and the
execution of the work is under the control of the contractor,
references in this section to a person undertaking the work or
sinking or extending the shaft, borehole or well or making or
extending the excavation shall, where those references occur in
sub-section (1), be construed as references to the contractor and,
where they occur in other provisions of this section, be construed
as including references both to the contractor and that other
person.

(8) In this section

(a)any reference to mineral prospecting or development work includes
a reference to geophysical or geochemical investigations of any kind,
whether conducted by means of boring or otherwise howsoever;

(b)any reference to a record, in relation to mineral prospecting or
development work which includes the sinking or extension of a shaft,
borehole or well, or the making or extension of an excavation,
intended to reach a depth of more than fifty feet includes a
reference to a journal of that sinking or making or extension; and

(c)"excavation" includes "tunnel".]

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
5
Authorised officer.

5.(1) In this Part "authorised officer" means any person appointed
by the Minister in writing to act as an authorised officer for the
purposes of this Part.

(2) An authorised officer seeking to exercise in relation to any
land any of the powers conferred by this Part shall, if so
required by the owner or occupier of that land, produce his
authority to act as such officer.

[(3) An authorised officer shall have the same rights as to the
production and inspection of plans, sections and drawings which by
or by virtue of the Mines Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 are required
to be kept, as are by that Act conferred on inspectors, and that
Act shall apply accordingly.]

Transfer of certain functions and right to the Ministry.

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
6

6.(1) Subject as in this Part provided the functions exercisable
with respect to rights to, or in relation to, mines or minerals by
the Ministry of Finance immediately before the commencement of this
Act by virtue of paragraph (c) of section three of the Northern
Ireland Land Purchase (Winding Up) Act, 1935, shall be and become
functions of the Ministry.

(2) The provisions set out in the First Schedule shall have effect
in relation to the functions transferred to the Ministry under
sub-section (1).

(3) In any entry made in the Land Registry with respect to the
reservation under the Land Purchase Acts of mines or minerals to
the Irish Land Commission, the Northern Ireland Land Purchase
Commission or the Ministry of Finance references to those bodies
shall be construed as references to the Ministry.

Subs.(4) rep. by 1969 c.35 (NI) s.62 sch.4 Pt.I

Merging orders.

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
8

8. Subs.(1)(3) rep. by 1969 c.35 (NI) s.62 sch.4 Pt.I

(4) Nothing in this section shall prejudice the rights of any
person entitled to the whole or any part of the percentage provided
for in sub-section (3) of section thirteen of the Irish Land Act,
1903; and upon registration of a merging order the second proviso
to the said sub-section (3) shall in its application to the land
to which the merging order relates have effect as if the reference
therein to twenty-five per cent. of any rent, purchase money or
other net profit received by the Ministry upon a disposal of mining
rights by the Ministry were a reference to twenty-five per cent. of
any rent, purchase money or other net profit in respect of mines
or minerals received by the registered owner or other person
interested in the land upon a disposal of mining rights by that
owner or other person.

Subs.(5) rep. by 1969 c.35 (NI) s.62 sch.4 Pt.I

(6) The Ministry shall keep a separate register of all merging
orders, and that register

(a)shall specify, by reference to the appropriate land registry
folio, the lands to which the respective merging orders relate; and

(b)shall be open to public inspection, without charge, during normal
office hours.

Ss.917 rep. by 1962 c.30 (NI) s.7(9) sch.1 Pt.I; 1969 c.35 (NI)
s.62 sch.4 Pt.I

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
18
Rights of entry and user and payment of compensation.

18.(1) Where rights to minerals have been leased under this Part
the lessee may, during the currency of his lease and any other
person to whom the rights have been disposed of may at any time
enter on the land on or under which such minerals lie and use
such land in such manner as may be reasonably necessary for the
working of such minerals or for any purpose incidental thereto.

Subs.(2)(4) rep. by 1969 c.35 (NI) s.62 sch.4 Pt.I

Ss.20, 21 rep. by 1969 c.6 (NI) s.163 sch.5

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
22
Amendment of Quarries Act (Northern Ireland), 1927.

22. Subs.(1) substitutes s.4 of 1927 c.19 (NI); subs.(2) amends s.11
of 1927 c.19 (NI)

(3) Inspectors under the Act of 1927 shall cease to be liable to
make annual reports under section fifteen of that Act but in lieu
thereof the Ministry may from time to time publish reports of its
activities under that Act and, accordingly, ... residue substitutes
s.15 of 1927 c.19 (NI)

Subs.(4)(5) insert s.21A in, and amend s.22 of, 1927 c.19 (NI);
subs.(6) rep. by SLR 1973; subs.(7) substitutes s.29(1)(3)
(3A)(3B)(3C) of 1927 c.19 (NI)

Short title.

MINERALS (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1959 - SECT
24

24.(1) This Act may be cited as the Minerals (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland), 1959.

Subs.(2) rep. by SLR 1973

1. In the construction and for the purposes of any enactment,
judgment, decree, order, award, deed, contract, regulation, bye-law,
certificate or other document passed or made before the commencement
of this Act, any reference to, or which is to be construed as a
reference to, the transferor shall, so far only as may be necessary
for the purpose or in consequence of the transfer, be construed as
a reference to the Ministry.

2. The transfer shall not affect any order, regulation, rule,
appointment, direction, approval, requirement or authorisation made or
given or other thing done by the transferor before the commencement
of this Act, but any such matter shall, if in force immediately
before such commencement, continue in force to the like extent and
subject to the like provisions as if it had been duly made, given
or done by the Ministry.

3. Anything commenced before the commencement of this Act, by or
under the authority of the transferor from which the functions were
transferred may, so far as it relates to any functions transferred,
be carried on or completed by or under the authority of the
Ministry.

4. Where at the commencement of this Act any legal proceeding has
reference to any of the functions transferred, the Ministry shall be
substituted in the proceeding for the transferor and the proceedings
shall not abate by reason of the substitution.

5. All property, rights and liabilities held, enjoyed or incurred
before the commencement of this Act by the transferor in connection
with such functions shall be transferred to the Ministry as from
the commencement of this Act; and, accordingly, as from such
commencement by virtue of this Act and without any further
conveyance, transfer, assignment or other instrument whatsoever

(a)the said property, real or personal, shall vest in the Ministry;

(b)the said rights shall be enjoyed by the Ministry; and

(c)the said liabilities shall become liabilities of the Ministry.

6. In this Schedule "transferor" means

(a)in relation to functions transferred to the Ministry under
sub-section (2) of section one, the department of the Government of
Northern Ireland from which such functions were transferred; and

(b)in relation to functions transferred to the Ministry under
sub-section (1) of section six, the Ministry of Finance.

Second and Third Schedules rep. by 1969 c.35 (NI) s.62 sch.4 Pt.I.
Fourth Schedule rep. by SLR 1973