Section 164: Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-
"Access Order" means an order issued by the Minister to the Owner, Occupier, or User of land to compel the user or occupier of land subject to the mineral title to give the holder of the mineral title access to the land for the exercise of his rights under such title or permit ;
"Alluvial" includes any form of mineral deposit, other than carbonaceous deposit, which does not fall within the definition of "Lode" ;
"Application" means an application for the grant or surrender of a Mineral title made in accordance with this Act ;
"Arbitration" means arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration and Conciliation Act (Chapter 19 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990) ;
"Artisanal Mining" means Mining Operations limited to the utilization of non mechanised methods of reconnaissance, exploration, extraction and processing of Mineral Resources within a Small Scale Mining Lease Area;
"Beneficiation" means the crushing and separating of Mineral Ore into valuable substances or waste by any of a variety of techniques ;
"Companies and Allied Matters Act" means the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Cap. C20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 ;
"Committee" or "the Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee" means the Committee established under section 19(1) of this Act ;
"Court" means any duly constituted court, in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, other than a Customary Court or an Area Court ;
"Days" means working days ;
"Director-General" means the Director-General of the Mining Cadastre appointed under this Act ;
"Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund" means the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund established under subsection (1) of section 121 of this Act ;
"Environmental Protection and Rehabilitalion Program" means the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation program required to be provided under this Act ;
"Exclusive Economic Zone" means the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria as defined in the Exclusive Economic Zone Act, Cap. E17 Laws of Federation of Nigeria;
"Explore" means the operations and works aimed at the discovery, the determination of characteristics and the evaluation of the economic value of Mineral Resources within an Exploration Licence Area;
"Exploration Licence Area" means an area that is the subject of an Exploration Licence ;
"Exploration Licence" means Exploration Licence granted under the provisions of this Act;
"Exploration Operations" means the operations and works carrried out in the course of exploration;
"Federal Mines Officer" means the head of the Mines Inspectorate Division of the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals within a State ;
"Gazette" means an Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
"General Register" means a register maintained by the Mining Cadastre Office in which is recorded applications for Mineral titles which do not confer an exclusive right to relevant Mineral Resource ;
"Government" means the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ;
"Holder of a right of occupancy" means a person entitled to a right tof occupancy granted or deemed to be granted by virtue of the Land Use Act, Cap L5, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and includes any person to whom a right of occupancy has been validly assigned or has validly devolved on the death of a Holder of a right of occupancy but does not include any person to whom a right of occupancy has been sold or transferred without a valid assignment, nor a 'mortgagee'; 'sub lessee' or 'sub under lessee' thereof;
"Lapidary" means an operation established to engage in the cutting and processing of gemstones;
"Lawful Occupier" in relation to any land means a person who is in actual occupation of the land or any part of it and where there are more than one person, means that one of them who is the owner, or who is responsible or would be so responsible if the land were let at a rent or otherwise occupied in circumstances in which consideration or damages for such occupation would be payable ;
"Lode" includes any true mineralized fissure vein, contact vein, segregated vein, bedded vein, metalliferous blanket, stock word, such irregular deposits as conform generically, to the above classification, any igneous rock containing metalliferous or radio active mineral when work for that mineral, and bed of any mineral, including bed of ironstone;
"Mine" when used as a noun, means any place, excavation or working in or on which any operation connected with mining is carried on together with all buildings, premises, erections, infrastructure, water reservoirs, tailings, ponds, waste, overburden and other dumps, and appliances belonging or appertaining thereto, above or below the ground for the purpose of mining, treating or preparing Minerals, obtaining or extracting any Mineral or metal by any mode or method or for the purpose of dressing mineral ores but does not include a smelter or a refinery ;
"Mine" when used as a verb, means to intentionally mine minerals, and includes any operations directly or indirectly necessary therefore or incidental thereto, including such processing of minerals as may be required to produce a first saleable product, and "mining" shall be construed accordingly ;
"Minerals" or " Mineral Resources" means any substance whether in solid, liquid, or gaseous form occurring in or on the earth, formed by or subjected to geological processes including occurrences or deposits of rocks, coal, coal bed gases, bituminous shales, tar sands, any substances that may be extracted from coal, shale or tar sands, mineral water, and mineral components in tailings and waste piles, but with the exclusion of Petroleum and waters without mineral content;
"Mineral Exploitation" means operations and works related to the technical and economic utilization of Mineral Resources, including Mine development, extraction, treatment, processing and beneficiation of Mineral Resources as well as the activitics necessary or related to the marketing of such Mineral Resources ;
"Mineral title" means Reconnaissance Permit, Exploration Licence, Small Scale Mining Lease, Mining Lease, Water Use Permit, or Quarry Lease or any one of these titles, consistent with the context in which the term "Mineral title" is used ;
"Mining Co-operative" means a group of artisanal miners registered as a co-operative under relevant federal or state laws and Mining Co-operatives shall be construed accordingly ;
"Mining Lease" means the Mining Lease granted under this Act ;
"Mining operations" means the operations and works carried out in the course of Mineral Exploitation, inclusive of the search for and exploration for Minerals, beneficiation, processing and contract mining ;
"Mining Lease Area" means an area subject to a Mining Lease Area ;
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for Solid Minerals Development ;
"Ministry" means the Ministry responsible for regulating matters relating to the exploration, development and exploitation of Mineral Resources ;
"Mineral Title Area" means an area in Nigeria that is subject to a Mineral title ;
"Permit" means a Permit granted under this law;
"Person" means any individual or a corporate entity, partnership, joint venture, co-operative, trust, or other entity that is recognized by the law as a distinct body with the right to enter into contracts and to own property;
"Petroleum" means any naturally occurring hydrocarbons, or any naturally occurring mixture of one or more hydrocarbons, whether in a gaseous, liquid or solid state and any other substance, and including the substances already named, that has been returned to a natural reservoir, but does not include coal, bituminous shales, tar sands, any substance that may be extracted from coal, shale or tar sands or any other stratified deposits from which oil can be extracted by destructive distilation;
"Pollution" means any change in the environment caused by substances, radio active or other waves noise, odours, dust or heat emitted from any activity, including the storage or treatment waste or subtances, construction or the provision of services where that change has an adverse effect on human health or well being or on the composition or resilience and productivity of natural or managed ecosystems or on materials useful to people, or will have such an effect in the future and "Pollute" shall be construed accordingly;
"Prescribed" means as prescribed by the Regulations;
"President" means the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
"Processing" means the operations and works carried out in the course of mineral in order to obtain metals, alloys, or other mineral commodities requiring treatment from other mineral substances either as extracted or as previously subjectcd to treatment as provided for under this Act ;
"Protected trees" means trees which are for the time being declared to be protected trees under the Forestry Law of a State and includes all trees within a forest reserve or a National Park ;
"Reconnaissance" means the operations and works to carry out the search for Minerals through physical observation, rock sampling, geological surface analysis, geophysical surveys, geochemical surveys, photogeological surveys by other non obstructive surveys or studies of surface geology or by other remote sensing techniques, laboratory testing and assays ;
"Reconnaissance Area" means an area of land that is the subject of a Reconnaissance Permit ;
"Reconnaissance operations" means the activities conducted further to a Reconnaissance Permit ;
"Reconnaissance Permit" means reconnaissance Permit issued under this Act ;
"Regulations" means regulations made under this Act, which are from time to time, in force;
"Road", "Tramway" or "Railway" includes a road, tramway or railway constructed by a local community or Person and used in connection with exploration or mining operations;
"Quarry" means a surface working or uncovered excavation used for the purpose of extracting Mineral Resources for Construction;
"Quarry operations" includes any form of activity for the extraction of Mineral Resources for Construction, other than an activity conducted or to be conducted underground; and any activity preparatory or incidental to that activity thereto;
"Security Minerals" means a radioactive mineral which contains by weight at least one twentieth of one percent (0.05%) of uranim, thorium, or any combination therof including but not limited to monazite, sand and other ores containing thorium, caronite, pitch blend, and other ores containing uranium;
"Small Scale Mining" means Artisanal, Alluvial and other forms of Mining Operations involving the use of low level technology or application of methods not requiring substantial expenditure for the conduct of Mining Operations within a Small Scale;
"Small Scale Mining Lease" means the Small Scale Mining Lease granted for exploitation of Mineral Resources under this Act ;
"Small Scale Mining Lease Area" means an area that is the subject of a Small Scale Mining Lease ;
"State Government" means the Government of a State within the Federal Republic of Nigeria and shall also include the Federal Capital Territory ;
"Treatment" means operations having the objective of carrying out the concentration, beneficiation and purification of Mineral Resources as well as the separation of the respective mineral substances ;
"User or Occupier of land"means any person occupying or using land in compliance with the Land Use Act, Cap. L5, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 or customary law and includes the sub lessees or sub under lessee of a such User or Occupier of land ;
"Water Use Permit" means a Water Use Permit issued under this Act;
"Watercourse" means any channel or duct whether natural or artificial, which confines, restricts or directs the flow of water ;
"Worker" means a workman as defined in section 1 of the Workmen's Compensation Act, Cap. W6, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004;
"Won" means the production or extraction of Mineral Resources.