Baynham v The Corporation of the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Council [2000] QMW 70

HELD AT BRISB 1N THE MATTER OF: BEFORE: APPLICANT: RESPONDENT: DETERMINATION: \,.,··"J . ~.,,-. - -- • '"' '~ ~-- '-...: DETERMJNATION OF COMPENSATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 281 OF THE MINERAL RESOURCES ACT 1989 JN RESPECT OF M1NING LEASE NUMBER 20201 IN THE MAREEBA DISTRICT :MR F W WINDRIDGE MINING WARDEN JOHN DAVID BAYNHAM THE CORPORATION OF TIIE WUJAL WUJAL ABORIGINAL COUNCU., The applicant miner JOHN DAVID BAYNHAM (hereinafter referred to as the miner) seeks the renewal of Mining Lease 20201 in the Mareeba District. An application for renewal was lodged on 23 February 2000 at the Registrars office at Mareeba. The miner seeks a renewal over 14.8 hectares for a term of 4 years commencing on I April 2000. The lease is situated on Lot 4566 on PH2201, Parish of Byerstown, county of Chelmsford, being part of Bonney Glen Holding. The landowner is the Corporation of the Wujul Wujul Aboriginal Council. Access is through the same land and Lot 3 on SP 102688 being part of Special Lease 51679. The landowner of the Special Lease is GD & J H Ahlers. 20201CMP.MAR 1 [2000] QMW 70 -- 1 of 3 -- Warden's Court of Queensland 11 May2000 The Registrars file indicates that the relevant parties have been notified. lv.fr Baynham the applicant miner appears. There is no appearance by the Wujal Wujal Council and there has been no contact or advice regarding any intended appearance. I am satisfied the respondent landowner has received notification but has failed to attend. The hearing took place at Mareeba on 27 April 2000. I propose to deal with the matter in the absence of the landowner. The parties being unable to come to any agreement in relation to compensation, the Court is empowered under the provisions of section 281 of the Mineral Resources Act 1989 (the l\.1RA) to determine compensation. The matters that must be considered are set forth in sub section 3 of that Act. An inspection that was to take place has been abandoned due to the consistent wet weather in this area and bad road conditions. The applicant advises the Court that his lease is a small lease of 14.8 hectares and is used for stockpile purposes. About 2,000 top 3,000 cubic metres of material is store on the lease for processing by a mobile plant. During the term of the renewed lease, the landowners will have full use and access to the surface of the lease for grazing purposes ie there will be no fencing to exclude cattle. After treatmen~ the material remaining is to be back filled into a washout and gully with a rock retaining wall to retain silt and dirty water. The lease will then be cleaned of rubbish and surrendered. The miner indicates that the previous agreement was for payment of a sum of$100 per year, and he seeks to continue this arrangement. There are no submissions from the landowner. Notwithstanding section 281 of the MR.A, the Land Court in Mitchell v Oakhill and Mitchell (unreported Brisbane 10 March 1998) found: 20201CMP.MAR 2 -- 2 of 3 -- Warden's Court of Queensland 11 May2000 "Although section 281 of the present act directs the Warden to take those matters into consideration and the Mineral Resources Act provides that an owner of land is entitled to compensation for those particular matters, the latter section does not prescribe a method of valuation. In my view, as long as the amount of compensation finally determined sufficiently accounts for each of the matters referred to in the sub-section, it is not necessary to quantify an amount in respect of each of the matters referred to." In this instance we do not have before and after valuations to consider as evidence. No matter was raised which would necessitate consideration under subsection (4) of section 281. Given the general nature of the operation, i e treatment of the stockpile, there is unlikely to be any significant loss of income to the owner. Given the circumstances, I Am satisfied that a nominal sum of compensation should be awarded and this sum will adequately compensate for those heads of claim which are set forth in section 281(3) and (4) of the MRA (Oakhill v. Mitchell supra). I direct the miner JOHN DAVID MAYNHAM to pay to the landowner the CORPORATION OF THE WUJAL WUJAL ABORIGINAL CORPORATION the sum of$100.00 per annum for the term of the lease. The term of the renewed lease being FOUR years, compensation due is $400. The applicant miner consented to an order for a "one off' payment, and I therefore direct that the sum of $400. 00 be paid to the landowner within 60 days of the date of this determination. Dated at Bri ©2000 20201CMP.MAR 3 -- 3 of 3 --