Minerals Development Act 2017
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Assignment of licensees’ rights and duties under prospecting licence or retention licence | ||
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41. (1) A licensee under a prospecting licence or a retention licence may, with the prior written consent of the Minister, assign all or a percentage of all the licensee’s rights and duties under the licence to— | ||
(a) an associated company, or | ||
(b) a company or a body incorporated under the laws of another state with which the licensee has a joint venture agreement referred to in section 42 (1). | ||
(2) If a licensee under a prospecting licence or a retention licence purports to assign all or a percentage of all of the rights under the licence without the prior written consent of the Minister, the licence expires on the day that the assignment would, but for this subsection, have effect. | ||
(3) The Minister shall consent to a proposed assignment if— | ||
(a) the Minister is provided with the prescribed information and any other information that the Minister may require the licensee or proposed assignee to provide, | ||
(b) the licensee is in compliance with the conditions of the licence, | ||
(c) in the case of an assignment of a prospecting licence or a retention licence made to comply with the obligations under a joint venture agreement referred to in section 42 (1), the expenditure requirements for the first 2 years of the term of licence have been satisfied, | ||
(d) the proposed assignee is a fit and proper person (as provided for by section 27 ) to be a licensee, | ||
(e) the proposed assignee obtains insurance of the classes and in the amounts that are satisfactory to the Minister, and | ||
(f) the proposed instrument of assignment is satisfactory to the Minister. | ||
(4) On the assignment of all of a licensee’s rights and duties under a prospecting licence or a retention licence that has been consented to by the Minister— | ||
(a) the assignee has all of the rights and duties of a licensee under that licence and is responsible for the acts or omissions of the assignor under the licence that occurred before the assignment took effect, and | ||
(b) the assignor is no longer responsible to third parties or to the Minister for anything done or omitted to be done under the licence, but nothing in this paragraph prevents the assignee from obtaining an indemnity from the assignor in respect of those acts or omissions. | ||
(5) On the assignment of a percentage of all of a licensee’s rights and duties under a prospecting licence or a retention licence that has been consented to by the Minister, the assignee has all of the rights and duties of a licensee under that licence and is responsible for the acts or omissions of the assignor under the licence that occurred before or after the assignment takes effect, but nothing in this section prevents the assignee from obtaining an indemnity from the assignor in respect of those acts or omissions. |