Section 18: Lands excluded from prospecting and mining.

(1)
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 15 of this Act, the Corporation shall not carry out any prospecting or mining operations on land of any of the descriptions following, that is-
(a) land set apart for, or used for or appropriated or dedicated to, any public purpose (other than mining) without the prior consent of the Minister;
(b)
land included within the area of an oil pipeline licence granted under the Oil Pipelines Act, without the consent of the Minister as defined in section 2 of that Act;
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(c) land situate within any township or Government station, without the prior consent of the owner or holder of the surface rights and of the Minister;
(d) land appropriated for any railway or situate within 91.44 metres of any railway, without the prior consent in writing of the President and subject to such conditions as the President may prescribe; or
(e) land which is the site of, or is within 45.72 metres of, any Government or public building, reservoir, dam, public road or tramway, without the prior consent in writing of the Governor of the State concerned (or in the case of any such property which is a responsibility of the Government of the Federation, without the prior consent of the President) and subject to such conditions as the Governor (or the President, as the case may be) may prescribe;
(f) land which is held to be sacred, or upon which there is situate anything which is an object of veneration, according to local custom.
(2) If any question arises under paragraph (f) of subsection (1) of this section as to whether any land is sacred or whether anything is an object of veneration, such question shall be decided by the Governor of the State or Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, whose decision shall be final.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to place any restriction upon prospecting or mining operations by the Corporation beneath any land or a description mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, but the Corporation shall take all reasonable steps to carry out such operations without interference with surface rights.