A spokesperson from I&I NSW has said that although the deparment did collect and distribute compensation from opal miners to landholders in the past, it was only because there was an industry-wide accepted compensation amount and the legislation provided for the Mining Registrar to collect monies. According to I&I NSW, the miners and landholders have currently failed to reach an industry-wide agreement over the level of compensation payable, despite the department’s urging them to do so. As a consequence, it is not possible for I&I NSW to determine an amount of money to be paid. Miners and landholders can apply to the Land and Environment Court for a determination of compensation amount or individual miners can reach an agreement directly with the landholder. However the LRMA does not recommend this.

In addition, the spokeperson said that I&I NSW has no legislative power to collect compensation as a result of the transfer of the Mining Warden’s jurisdiction to the Land and Environment Court. Section 266 of the Mining Act 1992 makes it clear that compensation may only be paid to either the Land and Environment Court or to the person who is entitled to the payment (usually the landholder).

We are in the process of working out an arrangement with those landholders the miners have an agreement with. Unfortunately we cannot report much else at this point in time but we should have a bit more information next week for any member that has a claim due for renewal or is registering a claim.

ADVANCED OPAL COURSE

The Gemmological Association of Australia is delivering an advanced opal course in Sydney on September 25-26 2010.

Some of the learning outcomes in the theory and practical components include-

1. History of opal with a focus on Aust - includes folklore/superstitions

2. Terminology and nomenclature

3. World-wide occurrence and theories about geological environment and opal formation