Minerals Development Act 2017 (No. 23 of 2017).

This Act makes provision for the development of Minerals in Ireland and related matters. The main purposes of the Act are: (a) to provide a modern regulatory regime for exploration and development of state minerals, (b) to provide for regulating in accordance with the principles of social justice the exercise of private rights in respect of minerals and ancillary rights with a view to reconciling their exercise with the exigencies of the common good, (c) to provide for the continued vesting in the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the exclusive right of working, selling or otherwise disposing of private minerals which are not in course of development, subject to payment of fair compensation, (d) to provide for preparation and implementation of rehabilitation plans for abandoned mine sites, and (e) to provide for consequential amendments. This Act applies to all minerals within the State or on or within the seabed and subsoil of (a) the territorial seas (within the meaning of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006), or (b) any area standing designated for the time being by order under section 2 of the Continental Shelf Act 1968.
The Minister may prepare and publish directives (in this section referred to as environmental practices directives ) directing compliance with practices which in the Minister s opinion are necessary or desirable to protect the environment when prospecting for minerals. Every prospecting licence and retention licence is subject to the condition that the licensee shall prospect for minerals in compliance with the environmental practice directives.
The Minister may make regulations setting out conditions to which a prospecting licence or a retention licence is subject (which are in addition to those set out in this Act) regarding various matters including (b) good prospecting practice, including (i) the protection of groundwater and the integrity of aquifers, (ii) waste management, and (iii) the rehabilitation of the land.