(1)Without prejudice to subsection (4), the Ministry may grant to any person who—
(a)under any mining lease or mining licence granted by the Ministry, or
(b)by virtue of his ownership of any other estate in land,
has a right to work any mines and minerals, a permit authorising him to use any acquired mining facility for the purpose of facilitating the working of those mines and minerals.
(2)Where any ancillary rights have been acquired under subsection (2) of section 23, a corresponding permit may also be granted to a person such as is mentioned in paragraph ( b), ( c) or ( d) of that subsection, where it appears to the Ministry to be necessary or expedient to authorise him to use those rights for the purpose of facilitating his searching for mines and minerals.
(3)A permit granted under subsection (1) or (2) is in this Act referred to as a “mining facilities permit” .
(4)Where the Ministry proposes to grant both a prospecting licence or a mining lease or a mining licence and one or more than one mining facilities permit to the same person in respect of the same mines and minerals, the mining facilities permit or permits may, if the circumstances permit, be included in the prospecting licence, the mining lease or, as the case may be, the mining licence.
(5)An application may be made to the Ministry for a mining facilities permit notwithstanding that any land or ancillary right to which the permit is proposed to relate has not, at the time of application, been acquired by the Ministry, but the Ministry shall not acquire any land or ancillary rights under section 23 by agreement, or make a mining facilities order, in consequence of such an application, unless the Ministry is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable for the applicant otherwise to acquire the land or ancillary rights with respect to which the application for the permit is made for any of the reasons mentioned in paragraphs ( a) to ( d) of section 14(3).