Section 2

In this Act and in any rules made thereunder-

"crude oil" means oil in its natural state before the same has been refined or otherwise treated but excluding water and foreign substances;

"petroleum" includes any mineral oil or relative hydrocarbon and natural gas existing in its natural conditions in strata, but does not include coal or bituminous shales or other stratified deposits from which oil can be extracted by destructive distilla-tion;

"natural gas" means gas obtained from bore-holes and wells and consisting primarily of hydrocar-bons;

"minerals" means and includes coal, gold and all metals and substances in or under the ground obtainable by underground or by surface working, the ores of metals, and precious stones of all de-scriptions, but does not include crude oil, pet-roleum or natural gas;

"to mine" and its cognate expressions includes all operations connected with the winning, smelting, or other treatment of minerals;

"to prospect" and its cognate expressions includes all operations connected with the search for miner-als but does not include search upon the surface of 3ofl920 2 of 1948

(Cap. 42

of1951)

3 of 1951

(Cap. 44

of1951)

S.99159 3 of 1963

Short title

Interpret-ation 3

4

No prospecting or mining without authority

Prospecting licences

Mode of application

Mining the ground not involving any disturbance of the soil below 3 feet in depth.

It is hereby declared that the expressions "land"

and "lands" in this Act include and shall be deemed always to have included the foreshores and the submarine areas beneath the territorial waters of Brunei; and it is further declared that the powers conferred on the Minister by this Act to issue or grant licences and leases thereunder extend and shall be deemed always to have extended to such foreshores and submarine areas.