6   Application of Act

(1)  This Act applies to the following places of work (which are called mines in this Act):

(a)  any place within a mine holding,

(b)  any place (not within a mine holding) where the extraction of material from land for the purpose of recovering minerals or quarry product is carried out,

(c)  any place where the treatment of any such extracted material, or the treatment of minerals or quarry product, is carried out, if that place is:

(i)  near the mine holding, or

(ii)  at or near the place (not within a mine holding),

      from which the material, minerals or quarry product were extracted,

(d)  any place where the storage or treatment of waste resulting from:

(i)  the extraction of material from land for the purpose of recovering minerals or quarry product, or

(ii)  the treatment of minerals or quarry product,

      is carried out, if that place is near the mine holding, or is at or near the place (not within a mine holding), from which the material, minerals or quarry product were extracted,

(e)  any place where recycling operations are carried out, if that place is at or near the place (not within a mine holding) from which material was extracted from land for the purpose of recovering quarry product to be used in the recycling operations,

(f)  any place where the manufacturing of ready-mix concrete or bitumen hot mix is carried out, if that place is:

(i)  at or near a place (not within a mine holding) from which material was extracted from land for the purpose of recovering quarry product, and

(ii)  under the control of the same person or entity that has control of the place referred to in subparagraph (i),

(g)  any place (not within a mine holding) where mining exploration is carried out,

Note. See subsection (6).

(h)  any place (not within a mine holding) where the treatment of zircon, rutile, ilmenite, monazite and associated minerals is carried out,

(i)  any place where offshore exploration or mining activities within the meaning of the Offshore Minerals Act 1999 are carried out,

(j)  any place where operations associated with the care, security or maintenance of a place referred to in paragraph (b)–(i), (k) or (l) are carried out during any time when activities or operations at that place are suspended,

(k)  any place where operations associated with the decommissioning or abandonment of a place referred to in paragraph (b)–(j) are carried out,

(l)  any place that has ceased to be within a mine holding, or where an activity or operation referred to in paragraph (b)–(k) is or has been carried out, and that is being rehabilitated.

(2)  Any building, structure, pit, shaft, drive, level, incline, decline, excavation or work that is:

(a)  at a place referred to in subsection (1) (b)–(i), and

(b)  in the course of construction, and

(c)  intended to be part of a mine,

      is taken to be part of the mine constituted by that place.

(3)  This Act also applies to the following places, whether or not they are places of work:

(a)  an abandoned mine (other than an abandoned mine used for the storage, treatment or disposal of waste that is not connected with an activity or operation referred to in subsection (1) (b)–(i)),

(b)  any place described in subsection (1) (b)–(l) during any time when activities or operations at that place are suspended,

(c)  any place on which drilling operations (within the meaning of section 68) are carried out,

(d)  any land (that is not otherwise a mine within the meaning of subsection (1)) on which activities or uses take place that are the subject of, or required to be the subject of, a permit under Division 3 of Part 6.

(4)  For the purposes of this section, the extraction of material from land for the purpose of recovering minerals or quarry product includes:

(a)  any activity that is ancillary to, or connected with, extracting material for such a purpose, and

(b)  such other activities as may be prescribed by the regulations,

      but does not include any activity or class of activity that is excluded from the operation of this subsection by the regulations.

(5)  For the purposes of this section (but subject to the regulations), a place (the relevant place) is taken to be near a mine holding or other place if:

(a)  the relevant place is operating on an ongoing basis, and

(b)  the relevant place (or any part of it) is within 10 kilometres of the nearest boundary of the mine holding or other place.

(6)  In subsection (1) (g), mining exploration means the carrying out of works on, or the removal of samples from, land for the purpose of testing the mineral or quarry product bearing qualities of the land, but does not include:

(a)  drilling operations within the meaning of section 68, or

(b)  offshore exploration or mining activities within the meaning of the Offshore Minerals Act 1999, or

(c)  any activity or class of activity that is excluded from this definition by the regulations.