Doing research on Ralph de Lacey came across this article and although written over a year ago it gives some insight into the problems associated with exploration permit application approvals in Qld ->http://www.qrc.org.au/_dbase_upl/6July_TVBully_tenures.pdf
Townsville Bulletin
Friday 6/7/2007
Permits red tape frustrates miner By DANIEL BATEMAN
A NORTH Queensland mining company claims the only thing holding back the North's mineral boom is a lack of resources within the State Government's Department of Mines.
Ralph de Lacey, of North Queensland Mining Enterprises, is hoping to have his small mining business dig for tungsten near Ravenswood within the next six months. It is one of several sites the Cairns based miner hopes to explore across the North.
"The potential is enormous," he said. `The minerals in the ground in North Queensland are worth billions. Not millions, billions. "And under cover, deeper, who know? This is traditionally a very mineral rich area and it is untapped." The only thing preventing the resource
from being properly explored, according to Mr de Lacey, was a massive backlog of exploration permit applications which have overwhelmed the Department of Mines. The department denies it has a backlog of exploration permits, despite more than half of the 671 applications for exploration not yet started.
The department claims it has sent either intention to grant letters to waiting applicants, or applicants are
awaiting acceptance or have started a native title process.
"They're trying to deal with it as much as they can," Mr de Lacey said. "The department needs a lot more staff to deal with the boom. That's the truth. They've got insufficient resourcing, and insufficient staffing.
"The boom has caught them unprepared. Now everyone wants
things done yesterday, and they just don't have the staff to deal with it."
Mr de Lacey's comments follow news of two North Queensland
mines coming on line with Xstrata Zinc unveiling its $79 million zinc/ lead mine 22km north of Mount Isa and Matrix Minerals' copper mine opening up 180km north of Mount Isa.
Mr de Lacey said North Queensland could miss out on the minerals boom if something was not done about the administration problem.
"The mines department needs a lot more resourcing to keep up with the boom," he said. "The boom will be over before the mines department gets our tenements out if we're not careful."
A Department of Mines spokeswoman said there were currently
1174 exploration permit applications pending approval, and of these, 671 had not yet started. Of these applications, 89 per cent have been lodged since January. The pokeswoman said the lodgement of exploration permit applications
had more than doubled in the past two years. "There is no backlog of exploration permits awaiting approval," she said. "In fact, the department's processes for managing exploration permit applications, particularly
though the native title process, have been significantly streamlined. "The processing time from application
to grant has decreased considerably." The spokeswoman said each application was properly scrutinised against egislative requirements to ensure the State's resources were properly managed.
Queensland Resources Council spokesman Jim Devine said the
amount of permit applications had jumped up by a record 23 per cent. Mr Devine said the council would investigate Mr de Lacey's claims with the Department of Mines. "We're going to look further into the issue," Mr Devine said.
"There has been a significant increase in the amount of applications, which is hardly surprising when you
see the sorts of rates of activities which have been happening throughout the State."
MKY
mky resources ltd
