The Law of Mongolia Artisanal and Small Scale Mining

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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