Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), a retention licence holder may:
(a) explore for minerals in the licence area; and
(b) recover minerals in the licence area.
Note 1: The retention licence may specify a restricted range of activities that are the only ones authorised by the licence (see subsection 146(3)).
Note 2: Under subsection 23(1) the concept of exploration extends to activities that are directly related to exploration.
Note 3: Under subsection 24(1) the concept of recovery extends to activities that are directly related to the recovery of minerals.
(2) A retention licence does not authorise the recovery of minerals as part of a commercial mining operation.
(3) If the licence is expressed to restrict the kind of minerals covered by the licence, the holder is not permitted to explore for, or to recover, minerals not covered by the licence.
(4) A restriction on the kind of minerals covered by the licence may be inclusive (for example, only minerals A, B and C) or exclusive (for example, all minerals except A, B and C).
(5) For the purposes of subsection (3), the holder does not recover an excluded mineral if, in the course of exploring for, or recovering, another mineral, the holder recovers some excluded mineral.