Environmental Protection Act 1994

This section applies to financial assurance for an environmental authority (EA financial assurance) if—

the financial assurance is held by the administering authority immediately before the commencement of the section; and

the activity carried out under the environmental authority is a small scale mining activity; and

the chief executive cancels the environmental authority under section 277A; and

a prescribed condition requires the holder of a mining tenure for carrying out the small scale mining activity to give the administering authority financial assurance for the tenure.

If the amount of the EA financial assurance is equal to the amount required under the prescribed condition (the required amount), the amount of the EA financial assurance is taken to be the financial assurance for the mining tenure.

If the amount of the EA financial assurance is more than the required amount—

the amount of the EA financial assurance that is equal to the required amount is taken to be the financial assurance for the mining tenure; and

the administering authority must return to the holder the amount that is more than the required amount.

If the amount of the EA financial assurance is less than the required amount—

the amount of the EA financial assurance is taken to be part of the financial assurance for the mining tenure; and

the holder must, to comply with the prescribed condition, give the administering authority the amount that is the difference between the required amount and the EA financial assurance.