Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) This section applies to substances which, on or after the commencement of this Act, are prescribed substances existing in their natural condition, or in a deposit of waste material obtained from an underground or surface working, on or below the surface of land in a Territory, whether alienated from the Crown or not and, if alienated, whether alienated before or after the commencement of this Act.
(2) A substance to which this section applies which:
(a) is a prescribed substance at the commencement of this Act; and
(b) was not the property of the Commonwealth immediately before 11 September 1946 (being the date of commencement of the Atomic Energy (Control of Materials) Act 1946 );
is declared to have become the property of the Commonwealth on that date.
(3) A substance to which this section applies which:
(a) becomes a prescribed substance after the commencement of this Act; and
(b) is not, immediately before the date on which it becomes a prescribed substance, the property of the Commonwealth;
becomes, by force of this Act, the property of the Commonwealth on that date.
(4) The title of the Commonwealth to any substance to which this section applies is subject to any rights granted after 10 September, 1946 by or under the law of a Territory, with express reference to that substance, but to no other rights.