President's Column

摘要

Sitting in front of my computer typing the last column of my presidential year I would like to wish Jay Barton and his management team the best of luck for his term of office. I would like to thank Leopold Bosch and the office staff for all their support. I would also like to thank Manco and Council for all the extra hours they have sacrificed for Geological Society matters. The new Minerals Bill and the regulations have been enacted as of the 1~(st) of May and this is going to dramatically change the way many geologists and mineral resource companies are able to conduct their business. All "mineral rights ownership" will disappear. The right to prospect and mine is vested with the State. Companies and individuals who own rights with no prospecting permits have one year to apply for new order prospecting rights and those with old order prospecting rights have two years to convert to new order rights. Companies and individuals who have mining authorizations have five years to convert to new order mining authorizations.