The source of my assignment is a

book written by Waleed M. H. El-Malik, and the name of the

book is “Minerals Investment under the Shari’a Law” and this
book is published by “KLUWER LAW INTERNATIONAL”
under the International Energy and Resources law and
Policy Series. This is the source of my assignment for
Mining under Islamic law.
The sources for the assignment
for legal system are the Acts mentioned in the assignment.
 Mining:

It is the extraction of valuable minerals or other

geological materials from the Earth, usually from
an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposit. These deposits form a mineralized
package that is of economic interest to the miner.
The industrial process of removing a material bearing
substances from the place of its natural occurrence in the earth’s crust is called Mining.

Ores recovered by mining:

Ores that are like metals, coal, oil,shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension
stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain any material that
cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a
laboratory or factory. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable
resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water.

Methods of Mining:

 Underground mines are more expensive and are often used to reach deeper
deposits.
 Surface mines are typically used for shallower and less valuable deposits.
 Placer mining is used to sift out valuable metals from sediments in river
channels, beach sands, or other environments.
 In-situ mining, which is primarily used in mining uranium, involves dissolving the
mineral resource in place then processing it at the surface without moving rock from the
ground.
The method used depends on the type of mineral resource that is mined, its location at
or beneath the surface, and whether the resource is worth enough money to justify
extracting it. Each mining method also has varying degrees of impact on the
surrounding landscape and environment.

The mining in the light of SHARIA:

In the Muslim world the exploitation of minerals by simple methods of extractions

began in the early periods of Islam. Some ancient gold mines were found in Egypt and
between the River Nile and the red sea in the north of Sudan.

Generally, speaking the study of investment of minerals under Islamic Law has been
neglected by the both academics and practitioners. This should be a proper subject to
be taught and to be plasticized in the today’s world.

OWNERSHIP OF THE MINERALS:

The concept of the private right of property is an old human problem. Roman law
recognized and adopted the concept of absolute right of property. Thus, the property
right is an unrestricted and unlimited right on an object to use or destroy it in whatever
the owner likes.

Before a perspective development of mineral resources can take place by the

mineral owner or the operator he must first discover the extent of any mineral deposits
to which he may be entitled under a mining title or of any minerals which pass with
land he has purchased.

The four schools with regard to ownership of minerals:

1: Hanafi School:

Imam Abu Hanifa (R.A) says that

ownership of minerals follows ownership of land. The surface owner is entitled to the
surface itself and to all below it including minerals, subject to payment of Zakat
taxation in case of solid minerals.

2: Shafia school:

There are three quotations of Imam Shafi (R.A):

 Minerals found in the private Land:

 If they are the hidden minerals, then they
belong to owner of the land subject to payment of zakat taxation. In apparent,
minerals owner has no right of exclusive ownership only need based ownership.
 Minerals found in Dead lands:
If a person buys a land which is dead and
he cultivates that land, so the minerals found beneath it will be entitled to
owner.
 Minerals found in state-owned lands:
The apparent minerals are for the whole
society as a whole. There is no private ownership. In case of hidden minerals, it
is up to state to whom they want to grant permission they can.

3: Hanabali School:

Apparent minerals in any land cannot be owned

privately.

In hidden minerals, investors acquire title of

ownership by cultivating it.

4: Malakia School:

Imam Maliks states that these all minerals belong

to muslim community as a whole and are under the direct control of Imam.

The order of Treasure:

The treasure in Arabic called kanooz or kanz. The things

buried in land in the era of negligence or in the era of illiteracy. People used to bury
their treasure in the land. The non-Muslims had a great practice of it and Muslims also
did this practice. Now, the order here for both treasure (buried by Muslim or by non-
Muslim), is to pay fifth part of that treasure as Zakat.

And, in common law there is no difference between the

treasure and the minerals found under earth’s surface.
 THE GENERAL MINING LAW OF 1872:

The 1872 Mining Law is one

of the last remaining dinosaurs of the old West. Signed by President Ulysses S. Grant
over 130 years ago, this law still governs hard rock mining on federal public lands, even
though other national policies and popular opinion have changed. Passed to encourage
development of the West via mineral exploitation, this antiquated law allows private
companies to take valuable minerals, including gold, copper, and uranium from public
lands without payment to the owners and with little consideration for communities and
the environment.
Jurisdiction:
The law covers hard rock mining on 270 million of acres of publicly owned lands –
mostly in the Rocky Mountain West and Alaska. This constitutes almost one-fourth of all
the land in the United States, or two thirds of the lands the federal government holds in
trust for all Americans. The law governs all valuable minerals on these lands not
covered by other laws. Practically, this usually means metals such as gold and copper,
but also includes valuable clays and other valuable materials. It does not cover fuel
minerals such as coal, oil or natural gas, or common materials such as limestone.
ENVIRONMENTAL INADEQUACY:
The 1872 Mining Law contains no environmental protection provisions. Although other
environmental laws do apply to mining, they do not adequately protect the environment
from mining-specific pollution. For example, two loopholes in the Clean Water Act allow
mining waste to be dumped directly into lakes, rivers and streams. In 2000, EPA
declared 40% of the headwaters of all western watersheds polluted by mining. EPA has
identified the hard rock mining industry as the nation’s largest toxic polluter –
contributing almost half of all reported toxic releases in the U.S. Over 500,000
abandoned mines litter the country. Cleanup will cost an estimated $50 billion.
FISCAL INADEQUACY:
The 1872 Mining Law allows mining
companies to extract publicly owned minerals without payment to federal taxpayers.
Multinational mining companies extract over a billion dollars of public minerals from
public lands each year. Coal, oil, and natural gas companies pay a 8 to 12.5% royalty
for extracting resources from federal public lands. The Mining Law also offers mineral
bearing public land for sale at $2.50 - $5 per acre – 1872 prices. Although a temporary
moratorium currently prevents new sales, $245 billion worth of mineral bearing public
lands have been “sold” under the law – a land area equivalent in size to the state of
Connecticut.
MISPLACED LAND-USE PRIORITY
The Mining Law establishes hard rock
mining as the highest and best use of public lands, unless they are Earthworks.
Specifically withdrawn from mining (e.g. National Parks), regardless of other competing
land uses or environmental sensitivity. Specifically, the Mining Law gives anyone the
right to stake a mining claim on open public land if they discover a “valuable deposit” of
minerals. All other types of mine proposals (e.g. coal) on public lands must be weighed
against other potential land uses before permitted. In the modern era, federal land
management agencies have consistently argued that they cannot deny hard rock mining
proposals because of the 1872 Mining Law.

CORNERSTONES OF MINNG REFORM:

Protecting Treasured Places Under the
federal government’s current interpretation, land managers give preference to mining
over all other land uses – from recreation to drinking water supplies to hunting. This
leaves places like the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness Area in Montana, Santa Rita
Mountains in Arizona and the Grand Canyon in danger from mineral development.
Reform of the mining law must recognize that there are some places that should not be
mined and must clearly give land managers the ability to deny a mine proposal if there
are other important resources values that could be damaged by a mining operation.
Real Environmental Standards Under current law, there are no statutory environmental
standards written specifically for mining. For example, the Clean Water Act does not
protect groundwater from mining pollution, and there is no definition of how to reclaim a
mine. The mining industry needs industry specific environmental standards to protect
surface and groundwater quality from erosion and toxic discharge; require landscape
restoration concurrent with mining; protect topsoil and wildlife habitats; require
productive native revegetation; and minimize and neutralize mine wastes. Fiscal
Reforms, the 1872 Mining Law currently provides the mining industry with billions of
dollar in subsidies. For $5 an acre, mining interests have patented (purchased) an area
roughly equivalent in size to the state of Connecticut containing mineral values
exceeding $245 billion. A new, reformed mining law should end the process of
patenting. Mining law reform should also include a fair financial return to the taxpayer in
the form of a royalty and reclamation fee on the mining industry. Inspection,
Enforcement, Bonding Enforcement authority must be given to federal regulators to
ensure operator compliance with the requirements of the reformed law. Enforcement
actions must be mandatory and require frequent inspections, violation citations, civil and
criminal penalty assessments, and the denial of new mining permits to operators with
outstanding violations. Reclamation bonds must be required at levels that will ensure
complete reclamation if operators fail to carry out their responsibilities. Abandoned Mine
Land Fund There is more than 500,000 abandoned hard rock mines in the United
States that will cost an estimated $50 billion dollars to reclaim, according to the
Environmental Protection Agency. Currently there is no funding source for abandoned
hard rock mine reclamation, and the abandoned mines that litter the Western United
States threaten both public safety and precious water resources. An abandoned mine
land fund, paid for by the mining industry, is needed to clean up this toxic legacy.
 THE LAND ACQUISITION (MINES) ACT, 1885
(Act XVIII of 1885)

SECTIONS:
         1.         Short title, commencement and local extent.
         2.         Saving for mineral rights of the Government.
         3.         Declaration that mines are not needed.
         4.         Notice to be given before working mines lying under land.
         5.         Power to prevent or restrict working.
         6.         Mode of determining persons interested and amount of compensation.
         7.         If Provincial Government does not offer to pay compensation, mines may
be worked in a proper manner.
         8.         Mining Communications.
         9.         Provincial Government to pay compensation for injury done to mines.
       10.         And also for injury arising from any airway or other work.
       11.         Power of officer of Provincial Government to enter and inspect the working
of mines.
       12.         Penalty for refusal to allow inspection.
       13.         If mines worked contrary to provisions of this Act, Provincial Government
may require means to be adopted for safety of land acquired.
       14.         Construction of Act when land acquired has been transferred to a local
authority or Company.
       15.         [Repealed]
       16.         Definition of local authority and company.
       17.         This Act to be read with Land Acquisition Act, 1870.
 The Islamic law is perfect and firstly gives right
to the owner of land the right of ownership of the minerals found in his lands he had
purchased.
But, on other hand The Mining Act of 1872 is
reciprocal to the Islamic law. It says that the person or the firm or the group of mining
have rights to own the minerals that are being found in any land.
Many other acts are presented like labor
Welfare act of 1967, it tells us about mining methods. Islam had given us complete set
up by which in his private he has right of ownership and in Pakistani legal following the
act of 1885, and mining act of 1923, say that they, the owners will be paid for the land
and will be given some extra money by Government to hand over their land to the
Government.
These are the mining laws being followed in
the world now days.