Single v Van Motman [2015] NSWLEC 1133

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Single v Van Motman [2015] NSWLEC 1133 Hearing dates: 28 April 2015 Date of orders: 04 May 2015 Decision date: 04 May 2015 Jurisdiction: Class 8 Before: Moore SC Decision: The Court declares that: 1. Rodney Glen Single has a fifty per cent (50%) equitable interest in Mineral Claim 51706; and 2. Rodney Glen Single has a fifty per cent (50%) equitable interest in Mineral Claim 51707. Catchwords: MINERAL CLAIM: adjudication between competing interests; equitable interest claimed; renunciation of interest by deceased estate Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 Mining Act 1992 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Rodney Glen Single (Applicant) Alphonse Van Motman (Respondent) Representation: Applicant in person Respondent in person File Number(s): 80973 of 2014

Judgment

Introduction 1. SENIOR COMMISSIONER: Lightning Ridge is a town in north-western New South Wales. It is a significant population centre for opal mining and has, in its general district, two significant areas of opal exploration and mining. Exploration for opals and mining to recover the gemstones has been taking place in the Lightning Ridge district since the early 1900s. The opal fields are the Lightning Ridge opal fields and the Grawin Glengarry Sheepyards opal fields (the latter being some 60 km from the Lightning Ridge township). There are also a number of other, smaller satellites opal fields in the broader Lightning Ridge district. Individual opal mining workings, known as mineral claims, dot these opal fields. 2. As Lightning Ridge is somewhat remote from major population centres, it is fair to say that there is a deal of informality associated with the town. This is starkly demonstrated when driving into Lightning Ridge on the access road from the Castlereagh Highway. Conventionally, country towns in New South Wales will display a sign at their outskirts giving the name of the town and its current population. There is such a sign on the outskirts of Lightning Ridge but in lieu of a population number, there is a "?". This informality also extends, at least to the extent demonstrated by the matters in dispute in these proceedings, to dealings (or alleged dealings, given the matters requiring resolution) concerning mineral claims. 3. In the context of this decision, I use the words "district" and "opal field" in a purely descriptive fashion not in any sense that might be derived from a statutory meaning of either of those terms.