mijnpacht, noun

Forms:
Also mihnpacht, mynpacht.
Plurals:
mijnpachts, mijnpachten.
Origin:
South African Dutch, DutchShow more South African Dutch, from Dutch mijn mine + pacht lease, agreement.
historical, Law
1. A mining lease granted, in terms of mining laws, to the owner or lessee of the mining rights on land proclaimed a public gold field, entitling this person to claim a certain percentage of the land prior to any other claims being registered; the area held under such a lease. See also vergunning.
1889 [see sense 2].
1893 T. Reunert Diamonds & Gold 151A mijnpacht, or mining lease..is granted to the owner, or in case the owner has leased the mineral rights on his property to another, then to the lessee of such mineral rights. Its extent does not exceed one-tenth of the farm or piece of ground.
1901 D.M. Wilson Behind Scenes in Tvl 165These constituted what is technically known as the Mijnpacht, and as they were supposed to represent the pick of the bunch, a Mijnpacht was the most valuable portion of a proclaimed farm.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 331Mynpacht,..The proprietor of a farm which was proclaimed as a gold-field, was allowed by the Transvaal Gold Law to reserve for himself a certain number of ‘claims’ — these were technically known as the Mynpacht.
1923 B. Ronan Forty S. Afr. Yrs 155After much negotiation, surveyors were employed, mynpachts marked out and proper deeds registered.
1932 S. Afr. Mining & Engineering Jrnl 11 June 386The proposed amendments to the Gold Law gave the owner of the mineral rights a substantially larger area as a mynpacht, and there would be future claims available for exploitation under a Government lease.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 382The owner of the mineral rights of a proclaimed private farm in the past has been entitled to select one or two areas (called a Mijnpacht) aggregating not more than one-fifth of the land over which he had the mineral rights.
1940 F.B. Young City of Gold 417Meninsky took care that the Mijnpacht, the tenth share reserved for the owner, and the sixty Vergunnings, or Preference Claims, which the law allowed him to assign to his friends, should be grouped compactly around the rich area which he had assayed.
1957 Act 68 in Stat. of Union 1046No contract of sale or cession in respect of land or any interest in land (other than a lease, mijnpacht or mining claim or stand) shall be of any force.
1962 A.P. Cartwright Gold Miners 61They chose the site of Johannesburg because it was roughly in the centre of the line of claims and mijnpachten that ran from Roodepoort almost to where Germiston is today.
1962 A.P. Cartwright Gold Miners 179The Precious and Base Metals Act, No. 35 of 1908 (universally known as the Gold Law)..provided that, where the owner of a mynpacht (normally not more than one-quarter of the land on which gold had been discovered) considered that this was not sufficient ground to provide a workable mining area, he might acquire a lease over a larger area.
1973 The 1820 Vol.46 No.11, 7With his former assistant, Jan Eloff, now the Mining Commissioner, they sorted out the tangle of mihnpachten and diggers’ claims.
2. combination
mijnpacht brief [South African Dutch, brief (plural brieven) letter, document], the document recording a mining lease agreement.
1889 E.P. Mathers Golden S. Afr. 321When farms are proclaimed as public fields the Government allow the owners..to take out Mijn Pacht Brieven, which entitles them to reserve from interference from diggers about a tenth portion of the ground.
1962 A.P. Cartwright Gold Miners 61The Government..allowed the owners of the farms, and those to whom they had granted leases, a month in which to make sure that their mynpacht-brieven were in order. The regulation under which a mijnpacht-brief was registered gave the owner of the land, or the purchaser of his mining rights, the right to beacon an area equal to about one-tenth of the total area of the farm on which he could conduct mining operations himself.
1974 J.P. Brits Diary of Nat. Scout 77A list of registered owners of the mining leases (mynpacht-brieven) in connection with farms which were situated on the Main Reef.
A mining lease granted, in terms of mining laws, to the owner or lessee of the mining rights on land proclaimed a public gold field, entitling this person to claim a certain percentage of the land prior to any other claims being registered; the area held under such a lease.
, the document recording a mining lease agreement.
Derivatives:
Hence mynpachter  noun, the holder of such a mining lease.
1893 T. Reunert Diamonds & Gold 151To the credit of the Government,..it has never yet imposed the charge of this commission, for although it would add a very large amount to the annual revenue of the State, it would, on the other hand, be a very serious imposition on the mijnpachter.
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18891974

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