The Act applies to stone, gravel, sand, clay, lime, chalk, peat, topsoil and similar elements. Exploitation of mineral deposits on land and sea must be part of a sustainable development plan which purpose is to ensure monitoring of mining areas after extraction, raw material supply, ensure that raw materials used are quality based and that raw materials shall be, where possible, replaced by waste products. The Minister of Environment sets regulations on quality and quantity of raw materials used for construction, on the recycling thereof, on the quantity and quality of raw materials used for the manufacturing of industrial products, on the processing of certain raw material quality (abstraction) and on waste, replacement products and dredging materials from the Danish marine area to be recovered and recycled as raw material. Permission for these activities is required and is granted by the municipal council authorities for the length of max. 10 years. The county council performs a mapping of mineral deposits on land to which the Minister of Environment and Energy shall set regulations. Permission for abstraction at beaches and other coastal areas where there are no contiguous land vegetation, may be disclosed only with the consent of Coastal Inspector.
This Act consists of 10 Chapters: General Provisions (1); Prospecting (2); Exploration and extraction of raw materials (3); Special provisions on the exploration and production of hydrocarbons (4); Special provisions on exploration and production of geothermal energy (4a); State purchase right of liquid hydrocarbons (5); Other exploitations (6); Special provisions for geological storage and pipeline transport of CO2 (6a); Scientific studies (7); Supervision (8); Other provisions (9); Penalty and entry into force provisions (10).