The purpose of the hearing was to set a timetable to further inspect those valuable improvements that are in dispute but as neither landholders nor their legal representative attended this was not possible.

The LRMA and GGSMA's legal representative requested that the Chief Mining Warden set a date for the inquiry to start.

The inquiry will be held on February 15 and the warden will hear legal arguments on what constitutes a valuable improvement and what may or may not be excluded from Opal Prospecting Area 4.

Valuable improvements such as homesteads, woolsheds and stockyards are not in dispute but other items claimed by the landholders such as catchment areas and flood refuges are in dispute and the LRMA does not believe these are improvements under the Mining Act.

After hearing all the evidence the Chief Mining Warden will then make his recommendations to the mineral resources minister.

Environmental levy

The Lightning Ridge Mining Board at its recent meeting agreed to the introduction of a $20 environmental levy on the grant and renewal of mineral claims.

The levy will be introduced from January1.

The LRMA has been advocating an environmental levy for the past five years and now legislation is in place to enable this to happen.

The purpose of the levy is to rehabilitate whole fields once mining activity has diminished, including off claim impacts and for setting up, maintaining and rehabilitating waste dumps.

The final details of the application of the levy will be negotiated between the Department of Primary Industries, Mineral Resources and the LRMA and GGSMA.

The LRMA will be arguing for the levy to always remain at $20 on the basis that miners will assist with trucks etc, rehabilitating the fields where they were working.

National Opal Miners Association

Miners associations from NSW, Queensland and South Australia held the first meeting, by telephone, of the National Opal Miners' Association last Monday. The meeting agreed to the symposium dates and also agreed to the preparation of a plan to promote opal.

The election of a president of the National Opal Miners' Association will be deferred until the delegates have an opportunity to meet face to face at the Opal Symposium.

New members

The following have applied for membership of the LRMA.

Hamish Cochrane Proposer: Maxine O'Brien Seconder: Drago Panich

Kenneth Hall Proposer: Drago Panich Seconder: Maxine O'Brien

Ralph Pownall Proposer: Drago Panich Seconder: Andrew Lindsay