Not accurately completing the mark out time on a Form 20 attached to the datum peg will invalidate the prospecting licence application.

In, Anglogold Ashanti Australia Limited v Monument Exploration Pty Ltd [2019] WAMW 13, Warden J O’Sullivan decided Monument Exploration Pty Ltd’s prospecting licences were invalid because:

• they wrote the marking out time on the Form 20, 25 minutes after they placed the Form 20 on the Datum Post, which was placed on the datum post 6 seconds after pegging the tenement; and
• the marking out on the Form 20 and Form 21 was entered as 00.00.06 when is should have been 00.25.00.
• the marking out is not complete until the Form 20 is completed, including the marking out time.
• the marking out time was as such misleading.

Anglo had the competing prospecting licence applications and received precedent.