2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— interpretation “ access agreement ” means an agreement entered into between the holder of a mining right and an owner or occupier of land over which the mining right subsists, for the conduct of exploration, mining or other activities authorised by the mining right to be carried on upon the land; “ appropriate authority ” in relation to any matter, means the Minister responsible for that matter or such public officer as the Minister may authorise to give the requisite consent in that behalf; “ artisanal mining ” means an artisan’s mining operation undertaken by a citizen pursuant to a mining licence granted under Part III; 166 No. 11 of 2015] Mines and Minerals Development “ authorised officer ” means a public officer or other person designated as such under subsection (8) of section five; “ base metal ” means iron, copper, nickel, aluminium, lead, zinc, tin, magnesium, cobalt, manganese, titanium, scandium, vanadium, molybdenum, chromium, tungsten, tantalum, bismuth, cadmium, zirconium, antimony, beryllium, germanium and rare earth elements, or a non-precious metal that is common or chemically active, or both common and chemically active; “ bird sanctuary ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Zambia Wildlife Act, 2015; “ cadastre unit ” means a quadrilateral formed by the intersection of meridians and parallels and with a distance equal to six sexagesimal seconds, and that covers an average planimetric surface of three point three four zero zero hectares; “ certificate of abandonment” means the certificate granted by the Director of Mining Cadastre under section seventy at the abandonment of a mining or non-mining right; “ citizen ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Constitution, and in relation to a partnership, means a partnership which is composed exclusively of citizens; “ citizen-empowered company ” means a company where twenty-five to fifty percent of its equity is owned by citizens; “ citizen-influenced company ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Citizens Economic Empowerment Act, 2006; “ citizen-owned company ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Citizens Economic Empowerment Act, 2006; “ Commissioner-General ” means the Commissioner-General appointed under the Zambia Revenue Authority Act; “ Committee ” means the Mining Licensing Committee established under section six; “ Community Partnership Park ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Zambia Wildlife Act, 2015; “ company ” means a private or public company as defined in the Companies Act; Act No. 14 of 2015 Cap. 1 Act No. 9 of 2006 Act No. 9 of 2006 Cap. 321 Act No. 14 of 2015 Cap. 388 Mines and Minerals Development [No. 11 of 2015 167 “ conflict mineral” means a mineral which is mined from an area of armed conflict; “ co-operative ” means a co-operative society established under the Co-operative Societies Act, 1998; “ day ” means a calendar day; “ decision letter ” means a letter issued by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency stating that— (a) a proposed project is not likely to cause adverse effects on the environment; or (b) a proposed project is likely to bring about adverse effects on the environment and an authorisation, licence, permit or permission should not be issued to the applicant; “ Director of Geological Survey ” means the person appointed as such under paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section five; “ Director of Mines ” means the person appointed as such under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section five; “ Director of Mines Safety ” means the person appointed as such under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section five; “ Director of Mining Cadastre ” means the person appointed as such under paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section five; “ Directors ” means the Director of Mines, Director of Mines Safety, Director of Mining Cadastre and Director of Geological Survey; “ energy mineral ” means a naturally occurring substance in the earth’s crust used as a source of energy, and includes coal, uranium and any other mineral used to generate energy, but does not include petroleum; “ environmental impact assessment ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Environmental Management Act, 2011; “ exploration area ” means the land covered by an exploration licence; “ exploration licence ” means an exploration licence granted under section twenty-three; Act No. 20 of 1998 Act No. 12 of 2011 168 No. 11 of 2015] Mines and Minerals Development Act No. 14 of 2015 “ exploration ” means the search for a mineral by any means and carrying out of such works, and removal of such samples, as may be necessary to test the mineral bearing qualities of any land and define the extent and determine the economic value of a mineral deposit; “ force majeure ” means an event which is beyond the reasonable control of a holder and which makes the exploration or mining operations under the licence impossible; “ Game Management Area ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Zambia Wildlife Act, 2015; “ gemstone ” includes amethyst, aquamarine, beryl, corundum, diamond, emerald, garnet, ruby, sapphire, topaz, tourmaline and any other nonmetallic mineral substance used in the manufacture of jewellery; “ gold pannig ” means the process of liberating gold from a placer deposit by gentle agitation and gravity in a pan through a water course or body; “ gold panning certificate ” means a certificate for gold panning granted under section forty-two; “ holder ” means the person in whose name a mining right or non-mining right is registered under this Act; “ industrial minerals ” includes a rock or mineral other than gemstones, base metals, energy minerals or precious metals used in their natural state or after physical or chemical transformation, including barites, dolomite, feldspar, fluorspar, graphite, gypsum, ironstone when used as a fluxing agent, kyanite, limestone, phyllite, magnesite, mica, nitrate, phosphate, pyrophyllite, salt, sand, clay, talc, laterite, gravel, potash, potassium minerals, granite, marble, clay, silica, diatomite, kaolin, bentonite or quartz; “ large-scale exploration ” means exploration over an area covering a minimum of three hundred and one cadastre units and not exceeding fifty-nine thousand eight hundred and eighty cadastre units; “ large-scale mining ” means mining over an area of a minimum of one hundred and twenty-one cadastre units and not exceeding seven thousand four hundred and eighty-five cadastre units; Mines and Minerals Development [No. 11 of 2015 169 “ local office ” means an office of the Mining Cadastre Department of the Ministry; “ mine ” means any place, pit, shaft, drive, level or other opening or excavation, and any drift, gutter, lead, vein, lode, reef, saltpan or working, in or on or by means of which any operation connected with mining is carried on, together with all the works, machinery, plant, buildings, premises, erections and appliances, whether above or below the ground, that are used in connection with the operation or for the extraction, treatment or preparation of any mineral or for the purpose of dressing mineral ores; “ mineral ” means any substance, whether in solid, liquid or gaseous form, occurring naturally in or on the earth or under water, formed by or subjected to a geological process, or any substance occurring in tailing dams, slag dumps, waste rock dumps, residue waste rock dumps, residue stockpiles or residue deposit, but excludes — (a) water, other than water taken from the land or any water body for the extraction of any mineral from that water; and (b) petroleum; “ mineral processing ” means the practice of beneficiating or liberating valuable minerals from their ores which may combine a number of unit operations such as crushing, grinding, sizing, screening, classification, washing, froth floatation, gravity concentration, electrostatic separation, magnetic separation, leaching, smelting, refining, calcining and gasification or any other processes incidental thereto; “ mineral processing licence ” means a licence granted under Part III for processing minerals and cutting, polishing and manufacturing jewellery; “ mineral processing operations ” means an operation carried out under a mineral processing licence; “ mineral product ” means any mineral substance, in any form, extracted for commercial purposes pursuant to a mining right, or any product obtained from the mineral substance by way of mineral processing; 170 No. 11 of 2015] Mines and Minerals Development “ mineral royalty ” means a payment received as consideration for the extraction of minerals; “ mineral trading permit ” means a mineral trading permit granted under Part III; “ mining ” means the extraction of material, whether solid, liquid or gaseous, from land or from beneath the surface of the earth in order to win minerals, or any operations directly or indirectly necessary or incidental to the extraction of the material; “ mining area ” means an area of land subject to a licence under this Act; “ Mining Cadastre Office ” means the central administrative office for processing applications for mining rights and mineral processing licences established pursuant to section eight; “ mining licence ” means a mining licence granted under section thirty-two; “ mining operations ” means an operation carried out under a mining right, excluding an operation carried out under an exploration licence or mineral processing licence; “ mining plant ” means any building, plant, machinery, equipment, tools or other property used for mining, whether or not affixed to land, excluding any timber or other material used or applied in the construction or support of any shaft, drive, gallery, terrace, race, dam or other work; “ mining right ” means a right granted under subsection (1) of section thirteen; “ non-mining right ” means a mineral processing licence or mineral trading permit granted under this Act; “ open cast mining operations ” means any working or excavation open to the surface beneath the original surface of the ground for the purpose of mining, but excludes prospecting pits; “ ore ” means a natural aggregate of one or more minerals which may be mined and sold at a profit or from which some parts may be profitably extracted; Mines and Minerals Development [No. 11 of 2015 171 “ petroleum ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2008, but does not include coal; Act No. 10 of 2008 “ person ” includes a partnership and co-operative; “precious metal” means gold, platinum, palladium, indium, osmium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, selenium and silver, or any other relatively scarce, highly corrosion resistant metal of high economic value; “ radioactive mineral ” means a mineral which contains by weight at least onetwentieth of one percent of uranium or thorium or any combination thereof, including— (a) monazite, sand and other ores containing thorium; and (b) carnotite, pitchblende and other ores containing uranium; “ regional certificate ” means a forgery resistant document with a format that identifies a shipment of specified minerals as having complied with the requirements of a regional mineral tracking and certification scheme; “ regional mining cadastre offices ” means mining cadastre offices established in districts throughout the Republic, other than Lusaka, to enable the public lodge applications for mining rights and non-mining rights; “ register ” means a register established and maintained pursuant to section seventy-nine; “ registered office ” means an office of a holder for the purpose of delivery of correspondence, service of notices or documents and for the storage of records as provided under this Act; “ repealed Act ” means the Mines and Minerals Development Act, 2008; “ single licensing system ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Business Regulatory Act, 2014; “ small-scale exploration ” means exploration over an area covering a minimum of three cadastre units and not exceeding three hundred cadastre units; Act No. 7 of 2008 Act No. 3 of 2014 172 No. 11 of 2015] Mines and Minerals Development “ small-scale mining ” means mining over an area covering a minimum of three cadastre units and not exceeding one hundred and twenty cadastre units; “ technical committee ” means a technical committee established by the Minister to evaluate bids under section nineteen; “ Tribunal ” means the Mining Appeals Tribunal established under section ninety-eight; “ underground mining operations ” means any working beneath the surface of the ground, which is accessed by means of a ramp, adit, raise, shaft or winze, but does not include an open pit mine or quarry; “ wildlife sanctuary ” has the meaning assigned to it in the Zambia Wildlife Act, 2015; and “ Zambia Environmental Management Agency ” means the Zambia Environmental Management Agency established under the Environmental Management Act, 2011. (2) A reference in this Act to land subject to a mining right or mineral processing licence means a reference to an area of land in respect of which a mining right or mineral processing licence has been granted and subsists. Act No. 14 of 2015 Act No. 12 of 2011 Ownership of minerals