Disposal of application for exclusive prospecting licence

(1) Subject to this Act and to any relevant agreement of a kind referred to in section 9, on application duly made, the Minister may grant on such conditions as he may determine, or refuse to grant, an exclusive prospecting licence over any area (2) The total area of land over which an exclusive prospecting licence is granted to any person shall not exceed twenty-five square kilometres and shall be of such shape and orientation that, so far as possible, it shall be rectangular with the width not being less than one quarter of the length, Provided that the Minister may authorise the shape to be other than rectangular when satisfied that local circumstances make this desirable, and may authorise the use of a permanent natural boundary instead of a straight line; provided that such boundary is clearly discernible on the ground, such as the centre line of a river, stream, road or track.