212 According to Section 7 of the Act, an exploration licence, retention licence, mediumscale mining licence or large-scale mining licence shall not be granted unless the Committee has recommended the respective application, and any grant of a licence that contravenes this subsection shall be null and void. 213 Under Section 43 of the Act, any person who intends to carry on prospecting, reconnaissance, exploration or mining operations shall apply in the manner prescribed by the Act. The licence is granted by the Mineral Resources Committee whose decisions are appealable under Section 53 of the Act. 214 The granting of mineral rights within a Geological Survey Area is an open process and any person can compete in the process. Under Section 56, any part of a Geological Survey Reserve Area shall be available for competitive tendering. The Mineral Resources Committee Competitive tender process for mineral tenement may approve a competitive tender process to allocate mineral tenement areas that are located within a Geological Survey Reserve Area. The Act ensures that the competitive tender process is fair in that any person, including a public officer, who influences or seeks to influence the outcome of a competitive bidding process initiated under this Division, other than on the terms and conditions set out under section 56, commits an offence and shall, upon conviction, be liable to a fine of K30,000,000 and imprisonment for ten (10) years. 215 In relation to employment, a holder of a mining licence shall give employment preference to Malawian citizens and shall not import from outside Malawi unskilled labour for the carrying out of any of its mining operations undertaken under the licence. The holder is also required to formulate an employment training plan for the employees. The Act also incorporates issues of gender and disability in that the employment and training plan shall comply with the Gender Equality Act and provide measures to create a working environment that is free of sexual harassment and any form of discrimination on the basis of sex. The training plan shall also seek to promote the participation of women in employment and training opportunities, targeting a percentage of the jobs for women including management, technical professionals, clerical, skilled labourers and unskilled labourers. Further to that, the plan shall also seek to promote the inclusion of people with disability in accordance with the Disability Act. The Act also ensures the protection of children from 81