The Law of Mongolia Artisanal and Small Scale Mining

The Law of Mongolia
Artisanal and Small Scale Mining
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Purpose of the law
1.1 The purpose of this law is to regulate Artisanal and Small Scale Mining within
the territory of Mongolia and to create the legal conditions for the
promotion and development of this mining subsector.
Article 2. Legislation on Artisanal and Small Scale Mining
2.1. The legislation on Artisanal and Small Scale Mining consists of the
Constitution of Mongolia, the Mineral Law, this act, and other laws and legal
acts enacted in conformity with them.
Article 3. Scope of the law
3.1 This law shall be applicable to reconnaissance and evaluation of minerals,
exploitation of mineral occurrences and the processing and selling of the
minerals undertaken by Artisanal and Small Scale Mining operations.
3.2 This law does not include mining activities related with sediments and rock
concentrations that might be used as construction materials.
Article 4. Definitions
4.1 In this law the terms have the following meanings:
4.1.1 “Abandoned Mines” means inactive mining operations that have not
been decommissioned and for which the owner has not carried out
rehabilitation.
4.1.2 “Alluvial occurrence” means material that has been eroded into fine
sediments that are subsequently transported by a stream or river to the
valley floor.
4.1.3 “Artificial deposits” means materials accumulated through human
mining activities such as tailings and waste rock.
4.1.4 “Artisanal and Small Scale Mining operations” means the simplified
mining activities developed in alluvial, eluvial, and colluvial (placers)
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mineral occurrences as well as superficial hard rock mineral
occurrences, and also in artificial mineral deposits as in abandoned
mines.
4.1.5 “ASSM” means Artisanal and Small Scale Mining.
4.1.6 “ASSM Licenses” means Artisanal Mining License, Micro Scale Mining
License and Small Scale Mining license as defined in this act.
4.1.7 “Colluvial occurrences” means materials that move downslope by
force of gravity and/or erosion and collect at the base of mountains or
foothills, with little or no sorting.
4.1.8 “Eluvial occurrences” means materials formed by settling and
enriched by the winnowing or removal of lower density materials.
4.1.9 “Exploitation of mineral occurrences” means the entire range of
activities that include separating and extracting minerals from the
land surface and subsoil, ore stockpile, waste or tailings.
4.1.10 “Hard rock” means metals or gems in a primary state such as mineral
veins and lode deposits. Production capacity of hard rock mines is
measured as the metric tonnage of the entire material (ore plus waste
rock) extracted in the mine
4.1.11 “Holder” means anyone in possession of a property or license.
4.1.12 “Placers” means alluvial, eluvial and colluvial mineral resources.
Production capacity of placer mines is measured as the volume of
extracted mineralized material in cubic meters, without taking into
account the volume of overburden.
4.1.13 “Processing of minerals” means increasing the concentration of usable
contents of ore or tailings, producing products, marketing those
products and other related activities.
4.1.14 “Reconnaissance and evaluation of minerals” means investigations to
identify mineral concentrations through various activities including
rock sampling and the review related geological and mineral
information.
4.1.15 “Simplified mining activities” means the reconnaissance and
evaluation of minerals, exploitation of the mineral occurrences and
the processing and selling of the minerals that are carried out with
ASSM licenses by Mongolian nationals that extract up to 2500 cubic
meters per day of mineralized material for placers or placer tailings
and up to 500 tons per day of total material for hard rock or hard rock
tailings. These activities may include male and female miners working
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individually, as family groups or in one of several forms of organisations
(partnerships, micro or small enterprises or cooperatives).
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CHAPTER TWO
ARTISANAL AND SMALL SCALE MINING LICENSES
Article 5. Type of licenses
5.1 Artisanal and Small Scale Mining shall operate with one of the following
licenses:
5.1.1 Artisanal Mining license;
5.1.2 Micro Scale Mining license;
5.1.3 Small scale Mining license.
5.2 The licenses shall give the mineral rights for reconnaissance and evaluation
of minerals, exploitation of the mineral occurrences and processing and
selling the mineral product
5.3 Conducting ASSM operations without a valid license is prohibited
5.4 A license holder shall be limited to one license
5.5 A natural person that participates in a registered partnership or for profit
legal person cannot hold a separate license
Article 6. Pre-requirement for license attribution
6.1 The mining licenses referred to in Article 5.1 will be granted to Mongolian
nationals, registered partnerships and for profit legal persons comprised of
Mongolian nationals
6.2 For profit legal persons constituted under the incorporation law or
subsidiaries of such legal persons are not eligible for an Artisanal and Small
Scale Mining license
Article 7. Artisanal Mining license
7.1 An Artisanal Mining license is granted to a natural person to undertake
simplified mining activities with the following parameters:
7.1.1 Extraction of up to 25 cubic meters per day of mineralized material for
placers or 5 tons per day of total material for hard rock;
7.1.2 The area granted by the license shall have a minimum of 10 hectares
and a maximum of 20 hectares.
7.2 The Artisanal Mining license may be granted for a term of 2 years and is
repeatedly renewable for similar periods
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Article 8. Micro Scale Mining license
8.1 Micro Scale Mining license is granted to a natural person, registered
partnership or a for profit legal person to undertake simplified mining
activities with the following parameters:
8.1.1 Extract up to 500 cubic meters per day of mineralized material for
placers or 100 tons per day of total material for hard rock;
8.1.2 The area granted by the license shall have a maximum of 200 hectares.
8.2. The Micro Scale Mining license may be granted for a term of 3 years and is
repeatedly renewable for similar periods
Article 9. Small scale Mining license
9.1 Small Scale Mining license is granted to a registered partnership or a for
profit legal person to undertake simplified mining activities with following
parameters:
9.1.1 Extract up to 2500 cubic meters per day of mineralized material for
placers or 500 tons per day of total material for hard rock;
9.1.2 The area granted by the license shall have a maximum of 1000
hectares.
9.2 The Small Scale Mining license may be granted for a term of 5 years and is
repeatedly renewable for similar periods
CHAPTER THREE
REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES FOR ASSM LICENSES ATTRIBUTION
Article 10. Application procedure for ASSM licenses
10.1 The applicant for an ASSM license shall submit to local designated
government mining agency the following documents:
10.1.1 Application form in accordance with the type of license requested;
10.1.2 A schedule in the prescribed form describing, in latitude and
longitude, the corners of the boundary of the requested license
area, and a standard map showing the boundary of the area and
such other natural features that allow the area to be correctly
located;
10.1.3 The applicant’s proposal;
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10.1.4 A copy of the fee payment receipt.
10.2 The application form referred to in article 10.1.1 will be subject of
complementary regulation
10.3 The standard map referred to article 10.1.2 is provided by the local
designated government agency
10.4 The proposal referred to in article 10.1.3 is a statement of the activities
proposed to be undertaken on or in relation to the license, including
environmental protection activities
10.5 The statement referred to in article 10.4 will be submitted on a schedule
provided by the local designated government agency
Article 11. Additional requirements about the requested license area
11.1 The requested license area shall have the following formal requirements:
11.1.1 Marked all corners in degrees, minutes and seconds;
11.1.2 Be tetragon in shape and its borders shall be straight lines
overlapping with directions along longitude and latitude;
11.1.3 No part of the requested area shall overlap with areas subject to
mineral exploitation restrictions or prohibitions in a reserve area,
special purpose territory or an area that is being used for other
economic and social purposes;
11.1.4 No part of the requested area shall overlap with an existing
licensed area or the licensed area covered by a pending license
application.
11.2 The license referred in article 11.1.4 includes ASSM licenses defined in this
act or other licenses according with the Minerals Law
11.3 A physical mark delimiting the boundaries of the license area will be
posted not more than 20 business days after the license is granted
11.4 The procedures for posting the physical mark referred to in 11.3 will be
defined in complementary regulations
Article 12. Priority principle for obtaining ASSM Licenses
12.1 The license shall be granted to the first applicant who registers an
application that meets the requirements defined in this act
Article 13. Registering and processing of the application
13.1 After review of the application set forth in article 10 of this act the local
designated government mining agency shall carry out the following:
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13.1.1 Register the application in the ASSM application registry;
13.1.2 Record with a specific note the first and last registered application of
the day;
13.1.3 A preliminary screening which shall determine whether the
application and the attached documents meet the requirements
specified on article 10.1 and 11.1 of this law;
13.1.4 Shall determine whether the requested area overlaps with an area
with restriction or prohibitions on mineral exploitation in a reserve
area, special purpose territory or any area subject to an existing valid
license or previously filed pending application for a license or an
area that is being used for other economic and social purposes.
13.2 After completing the actions defined in article 13.1, within 30 business
days after registration of the application, the local designated government
mining agency shall determine one of the following decisions:
13.2.1 Notify the applicant that the ASSM license shall be granted;
13.2.2 Notify the applicant that the ASSM license may be granted for the
part of the requested area which does not overlap;
13.2.3 Notify the applicant that the ASSM license is rejected in the case
where the requested license area completely overlaps with an area
under license or an area with restrictions or prohibitions on mineral
exploitation on a special purpose territory, reserve area, an area
subject to an existing valid license or an area that is being used for
other economic and social purposes.
13.3 In the situation referred to in article 13.2.2 the application shall be
amended to correct the requested area if the applicant still supports the
application
Article 14. Upgrading of ASSM licenses
14.1 An ASSM license holder is entitled to apply for upgrading of their license to
the next higher ASSM license type or to a license regulated under the
Minerals Law, in order to increase their production capacity or to enlarge
their license area
14.2 The ASSM license holder shall apply for the upgrade in accordance with
the requirements associated with the requested license type
14.3 An ASSM license holder is entitled to merge or join with adjacent ASSM
licenses, resulting in an upgraded license under the regime of the Minerals
Law or the requested ASSM license type
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14.4 The ASSM license holder seeking to merge or join the ASSM licenses shall do
so in accordance with the requirements of the regime of the Minerals Law
or the requested ASSM license type
CHAPTER FOUR
ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS FOR ASSM OPERATIONS
Article 15 Environmental impact assessment and operation plan
15.1 ASSM license holder shall present a request for an environmental
authorization to local designated environmental authority no later than 30
business days after the license attribution and before starting the
exploitation activities, based on the following environmental instruments:
15.1.1 For Artisanal Mining License, a category I operation plan;
15.1.2 For the Micro Scale Licence, a
simplified environmental screening and a category II operation plan;
15.1.3 For Small Scale License, a simplified environmental assessment and
category III operation plan.
15.2 The request referred in article 15.1 shall be presented in a form and
according to requirements to be defined in complementary regulation
15.3 For ASSM operations in abandoned mines wherein the license area is
covered by environmental instruments described in articles 17.1.1 or
17.1.2.2, the license holder shall be required to submit an operation plan in
the category corresponding to the type of license and exempt from
presenting other environmental instruments
15.4 The guidelines for the environmental instruments referred to in article 15.1.1,
15.1.2 and 15.1.3 shall be defined in complementary regulations
Article 16
Processing environmental authorization
16.1 The local designated environmental authority shall analyse the request and
shall determine one of the following decisions within 30 business days:
16.1.1 Approve the request for environmental authorization with or without
restrictions;
16.1.2 Reject the request and request additional information;
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16.1.3 Reject the request because the negative impacts cannot be
mitigated with existing science and technology or the costs of
mitigation exceed benefits of the project.
16.2 In the situation referred in article 16.1.2 the license holder shall have not
more than 20 business days to present the additional studies
16.3 The local designated environmental authority shall analyse the request and
shall determine one of the following decisions within 30 business days:
16.3.1 Approve the request of environmental authorization with or without
restrictions;
16.3.2 Reject the request because the negative impacts cannot be
mitigated with existing science and technology or the costs of
mitigation exceed benefits of the project.
Article 17. ASSM license in abandoned mines
17.1 ASSM operations in abandoned mines are considered a special type of
mining that require additional procedures related to environmental and
safety measures. As a result, before the license attribution, the local
designated environmental authority shall:
17.1.1 Complete a screening of the project to identify the environmental
conditions of the required license area;
17.1.2 Depending on the results of the environmental screening, the local
designated environmental authority can,
17.1.2.1 Consider the area safe for license attribution with or without
restrictions;
17.1.2.2 Consider the area unsafe and require a detailed
environmental impact assessment in accordance with the
Law on Environmental Assessments.
17.2 Based on the detailed environmental impact assessment the local
designated environmental authority can,
17.2.2 Consider the area safe for license attribution with or without
restrictions;
17.2.3 Consider the area unsafe.
17.3 In the situation referred in article 17.2.2 the application is rejected
17.4 For licenses granted in the situation referred to in articles 17.1.2.1 and 17.2.1
the local designated governmental mining agency shall append a
summary of the corresponding environmental instrument to the license
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17.5 ASSM licenses are not permitted in an area licensed under the Minerals Law
that is subject to decommissioning or closure activities
17.6 ASSM licenses are not permitted in abandoned areas which were
abandoned after the promulgation of the present law
17.7 The decommissioning or restoration of the abandoned mine areas granted
to ASSM licenses referred to in article 17.1 shall have a special regime
defined in complementary regulation
Article 18. Use of chemicals and explosives
18.1 The holder of the ASSM license shall have the right to process the minerals
that are extracted in the license area
18.2 The mineral processing that uses chemical substances shall have a
chemical use permit
18.3 The procedures of chemical use permit attribution and the environmental
and safety standards for mineral processing activities will be regulated by
complementary regulation
18.4 The holder of the ASSM license shall have a right to use explosives in the
exploitation activities in mineral occurrence of hard rock in accordance
with complementary regulation
CHAPTER FIVE
RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF LICENSE HOLDERS
Article 19. Rights of the license holders
19.1 An ASSM license authorizes the holder to:
19.1.1 Enter and occupy the land for the purpose of performing ASSM
operations and extracting and processing the minerals identified in
the license;
19.1.2 Extract rock, earth, soil from that land with or without treatment
subject to and in accordance with ASSM safety regulations;
19.1.3 Undertake the activities of reconnaissance and evaluation of
minerals in accordance with ASSM environmental regulations;
19.1.4 Undertake the exploitation of the mineral occurrences and
processing of the minerals in accordance with ASSM environmental
and safety regulations;
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19.1.5 Take and divert water situated on or flowing through such land and
use it for any purpose necessary for the exploitation and treatment,
subject to and in accordance with prescribed environmental
practices and in accordance with ASSM environmental regulations;
19.1.6 Undertake other related mining activities
19.2 Subject to this act, the holder of an ASSM license has the following
additional rights:
19. 2.1 Is entitled to the exclusive occupancy of the land in respect to
which the license was granted;
19.2.2 Owns the minerals extracted from the land in respect to which the
license was granted;
19.2.3 Can transfer the mining rights inter vivos and upon death of the
license holder.
Article 19. Obligations of the license holder
20.1 The holder of an ASSM license shall have the obligation to:
20.1.1 Commence the ASSM activities after the environmental authorization
have been granted, no later than 30 business days in the case of
Artisanal Mining License, 60 business days in the case of Micro Scale
Mining License and 90 business days in the case of Small Scale Mining
License;
20.1.2 Extract only those mineral substances defined in the license;
20.1.3 Implement the restrictions defined in the license;
20.1.4 Conduct the ASSM operations in accordance with ASSM health and
safety regulations;
20.1.5 Conduct the ASSM operations in accordance of ASSM environmental
regulations;
20.1.6 Conduct the ASSM operations in accordance of relevant labour
regulations;
20.1.7 Avoid the discharge of used water (through controlled drainage and
treatment) that may cause damage to people and pollute the
environment;
20.1.8 Submit annually to the local designated government mining agency a
report of the volume and monetary value per month of mineral
production and trade;
20.1.9 Compensate for damages to people and the environment resulting
from the licensed ASSM operations;
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20.1.10 Not suspend the ASSM activities more than six months without
authorization from the designated local government authority.
Article 21. Decommissioning obligations
21.1 During the period of the ASSM license and before the devolution of the
area the license holder shall restore the attributed area
21.2 Complementary regulations for each type of ASSM license shall be
promulgated to define the procedures, criteria and standards for the
decommissioning of the sites
CHAPTER SIX
FEES, ROYALTY AND TAX
Article 22. License Fees
22.1 The license holder shall pay license fees annually according to this law
22.2 The fees shall be the following,
22.2.1 Artisanal Mining license fee shall be US$ 0.1 per hectare
22.2.2 Micro Scale Mining license fee shall be US$ 0.2 per hectare
22.2.3 Small Scale Mining shall be US$ 0.3 per hectare
22.3 The payment procedures shall be regulated in complementary regulations
Article 23. Royalties
23.1 The license holder shall pay a royalty annually based on a percentage of
sales value of all mineral products extracted from the mining area, as
follows:
23.1.1 Artisanal Mining licence royalty is the equivalent of one (1) gram of
gold, considered the symbolic equivalent of a royalty rate of 1%
23.1.2 Micro Scale Mining license royalty rate is 1%
23.1.3 Small Scale Mining royalty rate is 2%
23.1.4 The monetary equivalent of gold referred in the articles 23.1.1, is
determined as the London Bullion Market Association PM Fix at the date the
royalty is due.
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23.2 The sales value referred in the article 23.1 shall be determined based on the
domestic market price for the particular or similar product
23.3 In the case of gold, the sales value referred in the article 23.2 shall be
determined by complementary regulations
23.4 The payment procedures shall be regulated in complementary regulations
Article 24. Income Tax
24.1 The license holder shall pay tax in accordance with the Law of Personal
Income delivered from private activities and services with indeterminable
income except in the case where a legal person is required to pay a
different type of income tax
24.2 The payment procedures shall be regulated by Law of Personal Income
delivered from private activities and services with indeterminable income
and related regulations
CHAPTER SEVEN
STATE RESPONSIBILITIES TO PROMOTE ASSM
ARTICLE 25. Promotion of ASSM development
25.1 The government shall promote ASSM business development and
strengthen technological, operational, safety and environmental
management dimensions
25.2 The government shall define the ASSM governmental structure and
allocate the necessary human and financial resource to implement the
application of this act and complementary regulation on ASSM
25.3 Based on the legal framework defined in this act the government shall
define an integrated Sustainable Development program for ASSM
25.4 The government may seek the collaboration of international cooperation,
universities and research institutions and other civil society institutions to
address the activities referred to in articles 25.1, 25.2 and 25.3
Article 26. Capacity building of ASSM operations
26.1 The government shall promote the capacity building of the following
areas:
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26.1.1 Technology and operations: to advance concepts of
sustainable development in mineral exploitation, the effective use
of the human and physical resources, to increase the knowledge
about ASSM mining operations in terms of financial accounting and
other economic and administrative issues and to foster a better
understanding about the legal framework and other available
policies to support ASSM operations
26.1.2 Safety and environmental management: to achieve healthy
and safe working conditions for the miners and families that live
around or close to the mine areas and to guarantee an effective
environmental protection
26.2 The capacity building may take place through seminars, workshops, and
make use of different types of written material such as guides, brochures,
technical newspapers and use of media (radio and television) and
computer resources with online information, material and news.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ARTISANAL AND SMALL SCALE MINING ACTIVITIES IN AREAS OF EXPLORATION OR MINING
LICENCES
ARTICLE 27. General conditions
27.1 Artisanal and Small Scale Miners can undertake reconnaissance and
evaluation of minerals, exploitation of mineral occurrences and the
processing and selling of minerals on license areas under the Minerals Law
regime with the consent of the holder of the exploration or Mining license
27.2 The consent refereed in article 27.1 shall have the format of a legal
agreement of simplified mining activities between the parties interested in
working in the area and the holder of the license
27.3 The simplified mining activities agreement referred in article 27.2 shall be a
pre-condition of the commencement of the ASSM operations
27.3 The ASSM parties involved in the simplified mining activities agreement shall
be a partnership or for profit legal person
27.4 A natural person cannot be a party to the simplified mining activities
agreement
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27.5 The holder of the exploration or mining license can have more than one
simplified mining activities agreement in the area of the license but shall
not exceed more than 50 % of the total area granted
Article 28. Simplified mining agreement negotiation and standards
28.1 The objective of the simplified mining activities agreement is to define the
relationship between the parties involved in the agreement and the
respective rights and obligations to promote conditions that allow the
parties to perform the mining activities in a responsible manner
28.2 The objectives of the simplified mining activities agreement, the areas
covered by the agreement, requirements and minimum standards of such
agreement and procedures shall be defined in complementary regulation
28.3 In the process of negotiation of the simplified mining activities agreement
the parties can request the involvement of the government as facilitator
Article 29. Special procedure for simplified mining agreement validation
29.1 The simplified mining activities agreement, after being signed and meeting
the legal requirements defined in the contract law shall be registered and
a completed copy will be archived with the local designed government
mining agency
29.2 The completed copy referred in article 29.1 shall include the agreement
and all annexes including a map of the area allocated for the ASSM
operation under the agreement
29.3 Any amendment of agreement shall have the same procedure referred in
article 29.1
29.4 The parties to the agreement shall have the right to have access to a copy
of the archived agreement
Article 30. Prohibition of simplified mining agreement
30.1 The areas subject to unauthorized access and activities by ASSM after the
promulgation of this law are not subject to simplified mining activities
agreement and no ASSM operation can be authorized or undertaken
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CHAPTER NINE
PENALTIES AND RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES
Article 31. Resolution of disputes
31. 1 Disputes between ASSM license holders shall be resolved by the local
designated government mining agency
31.2 Disputes between ASSM license holders and exploration and mining license
holders under the Minerals Law shall be resolved by the central government
agency defined under the Minerals Law
31.3 The local designated government mining agency shall give all parties
involved in the dispute an opportunity to present their position and
arguments in writing
31.4 In the case where there is a need for additional information, the local
designated government mining agency shall notify the parties involved in
the dispute not more than 10 business days after receiving the complaint
31.5 If the dispute is related with an overlap of ASSM areas, the local designated
government mining agency shall modify the area of the most recently
granted license to eliminate the overlap
31.6 If the dispute is related with an overlap of ASSM area with an exploration or
mining license holder under the Minerals Law, it shall be resolved by the
central government agency defined under the Minerals Law using the
same priority principle applied in 31.4
31.7 The verification referred to in article 31.5 made by local designated
government mining agency may involve the analysis of original
applications documents and reports or additional field surveys
31.8 Upon receipt of the finalized information regarding the dispute, the local
designated government mining agency shall have 20 business days to
notify the parties about the decision
31.9 The period required for the central government agency defined under the
Minerals Law to notify the parties about the decision under article 31.6
shall be 30 business days
Article 32. Right of appeal
32.1 The parties shall have the right to appeal decisions under this act to the
immediately senior authority
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32.2 Where the parties have exhausted the administrative appeals process, the
parties may file the complaint to a civil (or administrative) court
Article 33. Resolution of dispute about land use
33.1 Land access, rights of passage and land use disputes between or among
license holders and land owners and land users, shall be resolved as set
forth in the provisions of this act, land law and civil law
Article 34. Filing of complains about civil servants
34. 1 In the case of any action or failures to act by civil servants that prevent an
ASSM license holder to exercise the rights and obligations conferred by this
act, the license holder or any other person may file a complaint to the
immediate senior officer or to the court after exhaustingd the administrative
resource appeal
Article 35. Penalties
35.1 In case that the violation of the law does not constitute criminal offence,
the designated mining and environmental inspectors shall impose
administrative penalties
35.2 The violations and corresponding penalties shall be defined in
complementary regulations
35.3 The penalties imposed shall be related with the dimension of the damage
and the economic capacity of the violator as the following,
35.3.1 Artisanal mining fines from 5,000 to 50,000 tugrugs
35.3.2 Micro mining fines from 50,000 to 100,000 tugrugs
35.3.2 Small scale mining from 100,000 to 200,000 tugrugs
35.3.2 Natural person fines from 5,000 to 50,000 tugrugs
35.4 Artisanal mining, micro mining and small scale mining referred in 35.3.1,
35.3.2 and 35.3.3 include holder of corresponding licenses define in
accordance of this act but also ASSM activities that are without a licence
but where the volumes of production are equivalent
CHAPTER TEN
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TRANSITORY AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 36. Pre-existing ASSM operations
36.1 The ASSM operations that existed prior to the promulgation of this act shall
have priority in obtaining the ASSM license in the area in which they were
working prior to the promulgation of the regulation
36.2 The exercise of the priority right under this act, in the case of partnerships or
other kinds of pre-existing mineral exploitation organizations shall be
exercised through those new legal arrangements in accordance with the
corresponding ASSM license type
36.3 Each member of the previous partnership or other kinds of pre-existing
mineral exploitation organizations shall have the right to participate in the
new legal arrangement in accordance with the corresponding ASSM
license type
36.4 A member of a partnership or a member or other kinds of pre-existing
mineral exploitation organization may decide not exercise the priority right
and in this case shall not participate in the new legal arrangement
36.5 In the case of or other kinds of pre-existing mineral exploitation
organizations, proof of pre-existing operations shall be required
Article 37. Pre-existing ASSM operations in areas of exploration or mining
licenses
37.1 The agreements signed between the exploration or mining license holder
under the Minerals Law and ASSM operations before the promulgation of
this act are valid
37.2 The agreements signed before the promulgation of this act that do not
meet the minimum requirements defined in the complementary regulation
referred to in article 28.2 shall be amended accordingly
37.3 A copy of the agreement shall be sent to local designated government
mining agency to fulfill the requirement of validation referred in article 29
37. 4 The areas subject to unauthorized ASSM access or activities prior to the
promulgation of this act may be the subject of object of a simplified mining
activities agreement if the holder of an exploration or mining license
consents
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37.5 In the situation referred to in article 37.4 a simplified mining activities
agreement shall be negotiated and signed in accordance with article 28
and article 29, in the case where no previous written agreement exist
between the parties
Article 38. Transition period
38.1 The ASSM activities that pre-exist the promulgation of this act shall have 365
business days to comply with the requirements of this act
38.3 An implementation plan that includes special measures in terms personnel
and financial resources allocated to local designated mining agencies and
environmental authorities shall be approved for a 2 year transitional period
Article 39. Coming into force
39.1 This Act and its provisions shall come into force on XXX
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