Mining Regulations




Nov. 11.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 3177

or the feasibility of the same being applied to, public purposes or the use of miners generally for gold-mining purposes;
(c.) The cases in which and the extent to which any mining privilege lawfully held by any other person than the applicant is likely to be affected by the grant of the application;
(d.) Any objections of a public nature to the granting of the application which are disclosed by the survey; and
(e.) Any other circumstances which, in the opinion of the surveyor, should be reported to the Warden to enable him properly to deal with the application.
(2.) The approval of the aforesaid plan and report shall be signified by memo. in writing thereon under the hand of the Chief Surveyor or Chief Draughtsman.
(3.) With the aforesaid plan and report the surveyor shall also furnish to the Chief Surveyor for transmission to the Warden a tracing of so much of the general map of the district as will connect the land with at least one trigonometrical station, or, in the absence of such station, then with some fixed point.
37. The following general rules shall apply with respect to surveys:-
(1.) If the land to be surveyed affects or includes any mining privilege, private holding, building, race, or other area, whether held or occupied under the Mining Act or otherwise, the same must be shown by the surveyor on the plan, and full particulars relating thereto (including acreages) must, as far as practicable, be given in the surveyor's report to the Warden. It shall be the surveyor's duty to make careful inquiries respecting all claims to prior occupancy, and, if possible, to furnish the names of such occupants or claimants; but in computing the acreage of the land surveyed it shall not be his duty to deduct therefrom the acreage of any land to which any such claim to prior occupancy relates.
(2.) Every survey must be connected with a fixed and clearly indicated survey-mark, already established, such as the corner of a section, the angle of a road, a trigonometrical station, or the corner of a mining claim already surveyed. But whenever, in forest lands, a trigonometrical station is within a quarter of a mile of the mining area under survey, connection with it must be made in preference.
(3.) If a former survey is taken as a common boundary, it shall be the surveyor's duty to ascertain that the lines on the ground conform to the recorded bearings and dimensions of that survey. If correct it may be adopted as data for the survey in hand; and if not, the discrepancy disclosed must be reported to the Chief Surveyor when forwarding plan of survey for his approval.
(4.) In the survey of claims every boundary shall be cut throughout, and every corner shall be marked on the ground by trenches, as described in the regulations of the Surveyors' Board incorporated herewith; but in forest lands the trenches may be cut for a length of 3 ft. only.
(5.) All previously surveyed mining areas or allotments that may adjoin or be within 5 chains of the land under survey must be shown on the plan, together with the tie-lines used to determine their position.
(6.) Except as provided in subclause (3), the actual boundary-lines of the land surveyed must be measured by the surveyor, unless there be insuperable obstacles in the way. In such cases the course adopted in ascertaining the distance across or through the obstacle, and in prolonging the boundary-line, must be clearly shown on the plan.
(7.) When the boundaries are found to interfere with any existing mining privilege or other survey, the intersections must be carefully fixed and shown on the plan; and such other distances must be given as will admit of the relative positions of the different surveys being shown accurately on the district mining plans, and also allow of the exact area being calculated, should it be considered necessary, by the Warden to excise any part from the land applied for.
(8.) The surveyor's plan shall show the boundaries as marked out by the applicant, and the position of the pegs or other marks used in the marking-out.
(9.) On every angle or corner peg used by the surveyor in surveying the land there shall be distinctly cut or burnt the applicant's distinguishing mark, together with, in the cases following, the initial letters of the mining privilege, that is to say: S.C. for a special claim, E.C. for an extended claim, S.S. for a special site, W.R. for a water-race, T.R. for a tail-race, and M.L. for a mineral license.
(10.) The traverses in forest lands, required to ascertain the position of the corner-posts put into the ground by the applicants before the actual boundary-lines can be cut, should be altogether avoided, but, if absolutely necessary, must be as few as possible. Tabulations of these, as well as of the block boundaries, observed and measured, showing closures and connections, are to be furnished to the Chief Surveyor, together with the plan.
(11.) In surveying water-race areas the surveyor is expected to furnish a plan showing the levels and size of the race.
(12.) Care should be taken to show on the plan and note in the report those parts of the race which pass through sold lands, cultivations, areas held under the Land and Mining Acts, and the points where the race intersects other races, roads, tracks, tramways, or any other mining area, or any public or private land, however held, should be clearly defined.
(13.) The boundaries and areas to be covered by the water-surface and embankment of a dam should be drawn on plan, as well as all leased or sold lands, cultivations, or any other mining area or other land, however held, which the dam, if filled, would interfere with.
(14.) In the case of surveys of underground workings, which have to be carried out under the supervision of the Lands and Survey Department, special instructions will be issued in each case.
(15.) The surveyor's plan shall be drawn to the following scale:
Chains to an Inch.
Claims or blocks containing 5 acres or under, 2 chains to an inch or such larger scale as may be requisite to show all necessary details ... 2
Claims or blocks from 5 up to 30 acres .. 5
Claims or blocks from 30 acres upwards 10
Races over two miles in length .. 5
Races from two miles to five miles in length ... 10
Races over five miles in length .. 20
Reservoirs over 2 acres in extent .. 2
Reservoirs from 2 acres to 20 acres in extent .. . 5
Reservoirs from 20 acres upwards in extent .. 10
(16.) If the prescribed scale be found too small to properly indicate any buildings or other improvements that are on the ground, a larger scale must be used, or enlargements made to show them plainly.
(17.) Topographical features, such as mountains, spurs, gorges, rivers, creeks, lagoons, waterfalls, roads, tracks, or other physical features of or affecting the land surveyed, must be shown in full on all mining survey-plans.
(18.) The surveys of mining claims or blocks must be plotted on sheets prepared by the Department, to which the requisite surveyor's certificate is attached. These forms will be sold to any surveyor on application to the Chief Surveyor or to the Mining Registrar of the district. Other mining surveys may be plotted on antiquarian or double-elephant paper of a size of not less than 18 in. square.
(19.) The surveyor will be held responsible for the accuracy of the certificate attached to his plan; and if, on receipt of an official plan from a surveyor, it shall be found deficient in any necessary information, and if the omission be considered to be the result of a want of proper care on the part of the surveyor, he will be called upon to supply the deficiency at his own cost.
(20.) No surveyor shall employ more than two field-parties in the field unless licensed surveyors are placed in charge of such field-parties.
(21.) The survey fees shall, in the case of each survey, be payable according to the following scale:
(a.) Not exceeding 30 acres 5s. per acre, but not less than £6 5s., except in the case of extended claims, as hereinafter provided.
(b.) Exceeding 30 acres and up to 50 acres, 4s. 5d. per acre, but not less than £7 10s.
(c.) Exceeding 50 acres and up to 100 acres, 3s. 9d. per acre, but not less than £10 18s. 9d.
(d.) Exceeding 100 acres and up to 200 acres, 3s. 2d. per acre, but not less than £18 15s.
(e.) Exceeding 200 acres and up to 400 acres, 2s. 6d. per acre, but not less than £31 5s.
(f.) Extended claims, £3 2s. 6d. each.



Next Page →

PDF embedding disabled (Crown copyright)

View this page online at:


VUW Te Waharoa PDF NZ Gazette 1926, No 76


NZLII PDF NZ Gazette 1926, No 76





✨ LLM interpretation of page content

🌾 Regulations under the Mining Act, 1926 (continued from previous page)

🌾 Primary Industries & Resources
Mining Act, Regulations, Prospecting Warrants, Licenses, Mineral Leases, Claims, Alluvial, Dredging, River, Quartz, Sea-beach, Marking-out, Applications