DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND ENERGY
Mineral Titles Act and Regulations
INFORMATION BULLETIN
PRE APPLICATION
-
LAND AVAILABILITY
DESCRIPTION METHODS & LAND STATUS
COMPETING APPLICATIONS
OBTAINING LANDOWNER CONTACTS
Current Title Maps
The Department maintains an electronic spatial database for the recording and maintenance of
mineral title information. The Titles Information System (TIS) provides an online public access to this
database. TIS depicts areas currently held or sought by miners and those which are reserved.
In order to determine areas that are available, or that are likely to become available, a dynamic map of
the Territory can be viewed through Titles Information System (TIS) and current information printed.
Registered users can access queries and textual information on all current mineral titles. Registration
is free and application forms can be printed from: www.minerals.nt.gov.au
Conflicting Land Tenure
Land status determines what land can be included in any one mineral title application.
Applications for mineral titles which combine Aboriginal Freehold Land with either Native Title affected
land or NT Freehold land (or both), will not be accepted. Applicants will be requested to split such
applications into single landforms to allow processing under the appropriate Acts.
An exception to this may be where there are small (less than 1 graticular block) areas of Freehold land
within the boundaries of an application that is otherwise exclusively over Aboriginal Freehold land or
Native Title affected land. In such cases, applicants may be asked to either exclude the smaller areas
or submit a separate application as mentioned above.
Description Areas
Graticular Blocks – Discrete Areas – Exploration Licences and Extractive Mineral
Exploration Licences
For this Act, the land of the Territory is taken to be divided into graticular sections by the following
lines:
“(a) the meridian of longitude 129 degrees east and each meridian of longitude east of it, with a
distance of one minute between each of the meridians;
(b) the parallel of latitude 26 degrees south and each parallel of latitude north of it, with a
distance of one minute between each of the parallels,”
131º
131º 33'
33'
12º
12º 15'
15'
131º
131º 32'
32'
The average size of a graticular block is approximately 3.22 square kilometres
One
One
Graticular
Graticular
Block
Block
12º
12º 16'
16'
Page 1 of 5Page 1 of 1 of Page 1 of 5Page 1 of 5Page 1 of 5
Page 1 of 5
Discrete Application Areas
An application can only be made over 1 discrete area.
A discrete area can be a single block, or a number of blocks that are joined by a side or a point. Applications
made over 2 or more discrete areas will not be accepted.
Valid Application
Invalid Application
Written description methods
Should it be necessary to exclude certain cadastral land parcels from the application area, a note to that
effect can be made at the end of the written description. There is no need to describe the irregular shapes of
cadastral parcels.
Latitude and Longitude
The most popular and preferred method to describe exploration licences and extractive mineral exploration
licences and their corresponding mineral authorities is to identify each corner of the application area by a
coordinate pair.
Coordinates must be on the GDA94 datum.
In addition, digital spatial information can be e-mailed to titles.info@nt.gov.au stating the geographical datum of the
data.
Written description by coordinates
Point 5.
Point 6.
132º 27’
132º 32’
Point
Point 22
14°
14° 25'
25'
Point
Point 33
KATHERINE
KATHERINE
132º 32’
132º 22’
Point
Point 55
14°
14° 30'
30'
TINDAL
TINDAL
Point
Point 44
132°
132° 35'
35'
Point 4.
Point
Point 11
Point
Point 66
14°
14° 20'
20'
132°
132° 30'
30'
Point 3.
Example of map.
132º 27’
132°
132° 25'
25'
Point 2.
14º
19’
14º
25’
14º
25
14º
30’
14º
30’
14º
19’
132°
132° 20'
20'
Point 1.
132º 22’
The Block Identification Method (BIM) is based on the 1:1,000,000 national mapping series (SD52 Darwin).
Each map is divided into 5 minute by 5 minute blocks. There are 3456 five-minute blocks (numbered 1 to
3456) on each 1:1,000,000 map sheet.
Page 2 of 5
Since a graticular block is 1 minute by 1 minute, the above mentioned five-minute blocks were further divided
into graticular blocks called sub-blocks. Each of these sub-blocks is identified by a letter of the alphabet,
excluding the letter “i”. Therefore the reference “SD52 1507 A” identifies sub-block “A” on the 1507th block of
the SD52 map.
Written description by sub-blocks
SD52
SD52 1507
1507 A
A
SD52
SD52 1507
1507 ZZ
Sub-blocks are hatched.
SD5
2
143
5z
SD5
2
143
6
v,w,
x,y,z
SD5
2
150
8 all
D
D
D
D
D
D
E
E
E
E
E
E
Application area is
A
A
B
C
D
E
A
B
C
A
B
C
D
E
A
B
C
A
A B
B
B C
C
C D
D
D E
E
E A
A
A B
B
B C
C
C
hatched.
D
D
D
D
D
D
E
E
E
E
E
E
A
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
B
B
B
J
JJ
JJ
J
K
K
K
K
K
K
F
FF
FF
F
J
JJ
JJ
J
K
K
K
K
K
K
F
FF
FF
F
G
G
G
G
G
G
1,434
1,434
P
P
P
P
P
P
L
LL
LL
L
1,437
1,437
T
TT
TT
T
U
U
U
U
U
U
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
G
G
G
G
G
G
H
H
H
H
H
H
J
JJ
JJ
J
K
K
K
K
K
K
F
FF
FF
F
P
P
P
P
P
P
L
LL
LL
L
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
1,435
1,435
U
U
U
U
U
U
Z
ZZ
ZZ
Z
V
V
V
V
V
V
W
W
W
W
W
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X
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X
X
X
X
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
D
D
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D
D
D
E
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A
A
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C
C
C
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K
K
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FF
F
G
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G
G
G
H
H
H
H
H
H
G
G
G
G
G
G
H
H
H
H
H
H
P
P
P
P
P
P
L
LL
LL
L
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
1,436
1,436
U
U
U
U
U
U
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
R
R
R
R
R
R
Z
ZZ
ZZ
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V
V
V
V
V
V
W
W
W
W
W
W
X
X
X
X
X
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Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Z
ZZ
ZZ
Z
V
V
V
V
V
V
W
W
W
W
W
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D
D
D
D
D
D
E
E
E
E
E
E
A
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
B
B
B
C
C
C
C
C
C
D
D
D
D
D
D
E
E
E
E
E
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A
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
B
B
B
J
JJ
JJ
J
K
K
K
K
K
K
F
FF
FF
F
G
G
G
G
G
G
H
H
H
H
H
H
J
JJ
JJ
J
K
K
K
K
K
K
F
FF
FF
F
G
G
G
G
G
G
1,509
1,509
1,506
1,506
P
P
P
P
P
P
L
LL
LL
L
1,507
1,507
P
P
P
P
P
P
L
LL
LL
L
1,508
1,508
P
P
P
P
P
P
L
LL
LL
L
T
TT
TT
T
U
U
U
U
U
U
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
R
R
R
R
R
R
S
S
S
S
S
S
T
TT
TT
T
U
U
U
U
U
U
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Q
Q
Q
Q
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R
R
R
R
R
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S
S
S
S
S
T
TT
TT
T
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U
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U
U
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R
R
R
R
R
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Z
ZZ
ZZ
Z
V
V
V
V
V
V
W
W
W
W
W
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X
X
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Y
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ZZ
ZZ
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V
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W
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Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Z
ZZ
ZZ
Z
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V
V
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W
W
W
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W
D
D
D
D
D
D
E
E
E
E
E
E
A
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
B
B
B
C
C
C
C
C
C
D
D
D
D
D
D
E
E
E
E
E
E
A
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
B
B
B
C
C
C
C
C
C
D
D
D
D
D
D
E
E
E
E
E
E
A
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
B
B
B
J
JJ
JJ
J
K
K
K
K
K
K
F
FF
FF
F
K
K
K
K
K
K
F
FF
FF
F
G
G
G
G
G
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1,578
1,578
1:1,000,000
G
G
H
K
F
G
H
G
H
K
G
H
G
G H
H
H J
JJJ
J K
K
K map
FFF
F G
G
G H
H
H J
JJJ
J
sheet
reference
1,579
1,579
1,580
1,580
number is SD52.
1,581
1,581
When applying for Mineral Leases, Extractive Mineral Permits and Extractive Mineral Leases (including
corresponding mineral authorities), please state the number of hectares that you require the subject application to
be granted for.
Boundary Markers and Datum Post:
A boundary marker must be placed at each corner of the area and must be a substantial metal post, or a cairn
stones.
The Datum Post, being the North-Eastern corner post, shall be described by latitudes and longitudes.
All boundaries are measured in metres and all bearings true.
Example of written description:
The Datum Post is at the intersection of -13º 30’ 11” and 131º 42’ 52”.
Thence 800m on a bearing of 180 degrees,
Thence 400m on a bearing of 270 degrees,
Thence 800m on a bearing of 360 degrees,
Thence 400m on a bearing of 90 degrees and back to the Datum Post.
In addition, digital spatial information can be e-mailed to titles.info@nt.gov.au stating the geographical datum of the
data.
Map of application area:
Each application must be accompanied by a map that indicates the area of land to which the application relates,
including the boundaries of existing land holdings or geographical features. This map must be on the GDA94
datum and at a scale that clearly depicts the boundaries of the application. It should also depict locations of any
residences/buildings that are within and up to 50m outside of the area of the application.
Such a map may be printed from the Division’s online query system, Titles Information System (TIS).
Shape of survey area:
The area must be in the shape of a rectangle, the length of which must not exceed twice the width except in
circumstances as described in Regulation 34.
Page 3 of 5
Land Status
There are 3 main categories of land tenure that determine the grant process of a mineral title application:
- Freehold Land;
- Native Title Affected Land and
- Aboriginal Freehold Land
Freehold Land
Freehold land, sometimes referred to as a Grant in Fee Simple or Estate in Fee Simple, means that the Crown
(or Government) has passed all interest in the land, other than minerals, onto the owner.
Applications over Freehold land proceed to grant under the Mineral Titles Act. Therefore it is in your interest to
separate areas over Freehold land from other land tenure (listed above) to allow the application to be
processed without unnecessary delays.
Native Title Affected Land
Native Title Act 1993 (Commonwealth)
Native Title is a concept in the law of Australia that recognises that there was/is a continued beneficial legal
interest in land and waters held by Indigenous Australians. Native Title is recognised across Australia and
can co-exist with other forms of land title, including pastoral leases and mineral titles.
For a complete definition refer to Section 223 of the Native Title Act 1993.
In practical terms, land that is neither Freehold nor Aboriginal Freehold is considered to be land that is
affected by Native Title. The Department uses the ‘Expedited” procedures under the Commonwealth Native
Title Act 1993 to process exploration licence applications over land which may be affected by native title. In
the case of extractive mineral leases and mineral leases (including corresponding mineral authorities) the
titleholders must reach an agreement through the Right to Negotiate process.
Aboriginal Freehold Land
Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act
For the purposes of the Mineral Titles Act, any Freehold land that is owned by an Aboriginal Land Trust is
referred to as Aboriginal Freehold Land. Applications over Aboriginal Freehold Land must be processed
through the Mineral Titles Act as well as the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act (ALRA).
Where an application for an exploration licence (and a corresponding mineral authority) is made over
Aboriginal land, negotiations cannot commence with the relevant Land Council until consent has been
given by the Minister.
Once consent has been received, the titleholder has three months in which to lodge a detailed proposal, as
outlined in section 41 of the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act, to the relevant Land Council for consent to the
grant of the exploration licence.
Once the proposal has been lodged and accepted by the relevant Land Council, negotiations can then
commence (refer to section 42 of the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act).
Applications for a Mineral Lease cannot be made unless the person holds a granted exploration licence or an
exploration licence in retention in the first instance, then an additional agreement must be made under
section 46 of the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act.
Extractive mineral exploration licences, extractive mineral permits and extractive mineral leases must also
comply with the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act. A copy of the agreement must accompany the applications.
Further information on either Native Title or Aboriginal Land Rights may be obtained from
www.minerals.nt.gov.au or contacting the Native Title and Aboriginal Land Rights Unit on
NTALRUnit@nt.gov.au.
Page 4 of 5
Northern Territory Parks, Reserves or Wilderness Zones
Mineral titles may be granted over land in a Northern Territory declared park, reserve or wilderness zone
only after a consultation process between this Department and the Minister administering the Territory Parks
and Wildlife Conservation Act has been completed.
If the mineral title is granted as a result of this process, it may be subject to stringent conditions agreed to
between the appropriate Ministers.
Telecommunication Sites and Defence Facilities
It is the practice of the Department to exclude any Telecommunication Sites or Commonwealth Land from
the grant of a mineral title.
Council or Shire Rates
Titles, when granted, may be assessed for Local Council or Shire rates. To be assessable for rates a title
must also have an Authorisation granted under the Mining Management Act. Rates do not apply to titles for
exploration purposes. Contact you Local Government Office for more information.
Competing applications
Competing applications over the same area, made on the same business day have equal priority, and are
determined on their merits.
Factors taken into account include:




Proposed work programs;
Financial and Technical resources available;
Substantial compliance with conditions of other granted titles;
Where applicable, active in negotiating applications over Aboriginal Freehold land and Native Title
affected land.
Obtaining landowner contacts
You are required to identify the names and addresses of all affected landowners and provide copies, where
required, when lodging the application. These addresses can be obtained either from the:
Northern Territory Land Titles Office
GPO Box 3021
DARWIN NT 0801
Ph: 08 8999 6520 Fax: 08 8999 6239
OR
Integrated Land Information Systems
Contact NT Land Information System
Department of Lands, Planning and
the Environment
Ph: 08 8995 5322
Email: ilis.support@nt.gov.au
For holders of native title:
National Native Title Tribunal
Chesser House Level 10, 91-97 Grenfell Street
Adelaide SA 5000
GPO Box 9973, Adelaide SA 5001
Ph: 08 8306 1230 Fax: 08 8224 0939
For further information, please contact:
Mineral Titles Division
5th Floor Centrepoint Building, The Mall
Darwin, Northern Territory
Phone: 08 8999 5322
Fax:
08 8981 7106
Email: titles.info@nt.gov.au
Website: www.minerals.nt.gov.au
Disclaimer Whilst this information bulletin has been provided to assist applicants in their compliance with the Mineral Titles Act, it is incumbent on them to
acquaint themselves with the provisions of the Mineral Titles Act and all other laws of the Northern Territory as are applicable. Fees are subject to change
without notice.
Page 5 of 5