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Minerals Act Section 56 — Public notice, community hearing and referendum on a lease application
Minerals Act (พระราชบัญญัติแร่) — Section 56.
Plain-English Summary
After an application for a mining lease, the local mineral industry officer fixes the application area and posts notice for not less than 30 days at the officer's office, the district office, the kamnan's and village headman's offices and the local government office. When the period ends the officer must hold a community opinion hearing under rules the Minister announces. If villagers oppose the mining and the issuing authority cannot resolve the matter, the authority may order the officer to hold a local referendum at the applicant's expense. Section 54 separately requires the application to include evidence of the mineral, a rehabilitation and monitoring plan for during and after mining, the special-benefit offer, and landowner consent.
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 56 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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