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Minerals Act Section 4 — Definitions: minerals and the licence instruments
Minerals Act (พระราชบัญญัติแร่) — Section 4.
Plain-English Summary
Minerals (แร่) are inorganic geological resources of definite or only slightly variable chemical composition and physical character, expressly including coal, oil shale, marble, metals and slag from metallurgy, underground brine, and stone, soil or sand that a Ministerial Regulation designates as ornamental or industrial; water and rock salt (เกลือสินเธาว์) are excluded. The section also defines the four principal instruments the Act runs on: the prospecting licence (อาชญาบัตรสำรวจแร่), the exclusive prospecting licence (อาชญาบัตรผูกขาดสำรวจแร่), the special prospecting licence (อาชญาบัตรพิเศษ, which requires an exploration commitment and special benefits to the State) and the mining lease (ประทานบัตร). Small-scale digging (ขุดหาแร่รายย่อย) is labour or machinery totalling no more than 35 horsepower within areas, methods and minerals set by Ministerial announcement. The Director-General (อธิบดี) is the Director-General of the Department of Primary Industries and Mines.
Official Text
Official Thai text at the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State. Translation summary only.
Consult official sourceParent Statute
Minerals Act
พระราชบัญญัติแร่ · B.E. 2560 (2017)
The Minerals Act B.E. 2560 (2017) repeals the earlier Minerals Act B.E. 2510 (1967), its amendments and the mineral royalty Acts, bringing mineral licensing and royalty into one statute (Section 3). The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and the Minister of Industry each administer the parts of the Act within their own remit (Section 5); the Director-General of the Department of Primary Industries and Mines issues the larger mining leases and the exclusive and special prospecting, dressing, metallurgy and mineral-trade licences. The Act sets up a National Mineral Management Policy Committee and a five-yearly master plan that fixes where mining may and may not take place (Sections 8-19), ties mining to environmental impact assessment under the environmental quality law, adds community hearings and, for underground mining, stakeholder consultation (Sections 56, 82-88), caps royalty at 30 per cent of the market price (Section 132), and sets criminal penalties and civil liability (Sections 139-142 and 153-183).
The summary above is a plain-English educational paraphrase of Section 4 of the Minerals Act. It is not an authoritative translation. For the binding Thai text, consult the Royal Gazette or the Office of the Council of State. Educational use only — not a substitute for advice from a Thai-qualified lawyer.
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