The mining law is being amended again

The mining law is being amended again
  • 2021-01-20
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The Mining Committee of the Industries and Mines Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly presented a proposal to amend the articles of the Mining Law approved on 03/23/1998 and its subsequent amendments, according to which 10 articles and one article will be added to the Mines Law.

According to the International Iran Stone Exhibition, the Parliamentary Mining Committee in the introduction of this amendment stated that the purpose of preparing and proposing it is "the existence of the country's mine ownership mafia, lack of development of mined areas, prevention of crude sales, prevention of mining closure risk, delay of investors in this industry "The lack of access of real investors to mineral reserves, intensification of production and reduction of quarries in the development of this industry and facilitating the executive affairs of mines and mining industries."

According to this amendment, which is prepared for the second time in the years after the adoption of the Mining Law, by the representatives of each term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, some articles of the law, amendments and comments have been added to it. This amendment has 10 articles and in it articles 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 20, 25 and 33 are amended, Article 34 is added to it and in addition to adding notes to these articles, the original articles are also And terms have been added or removed.

According to Article 2 of this amendment, the phrase "natural and legal persons with technical and financial competence" has been replaced by "authorized natural and legal persons" in Article 5 of the law and it has been proposed about the validity period of the discovery certificate, which is one year. The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade can be transferred to third parties only once.

The committee proposed that five notes be added to Article 8 of the law. Note 2 of the proposed amendment states: "If the holder of the discovery certificate does not obtain the exploitation license within the period specified in the law, the said priority right will be revoked and the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade is obliged to submit it through a public call for transfer." "The area should apply to applicants with technical and financial qualifications."

On the other hand, Note 4 of the proposed amendment states that "the mining license of all operators is valid only to the extent of the reserves mentioned in the exploration license and they are allowed to withdraw the same amount from the reserves of the relevant mines." "If the reserves of any mineral increase, the increased reserves belong to the government, which according to this law will be given to the qualified applicants through auctions."

It seems that the Mining Committee of the Parliament included such a remark in the amendment with the introduction of the committee that the purpose of preparing the amendment is to prevent the risk of mining, delay of investors in this industry and lack of access of real investors to mineral reserves and reduction of stonework in the development of this industry. And the facilitation of the administration of mines and mining industries is contradictory, because when a miner and an investor discover, exploit and extract a mineral at great expense and with great difficulty, the discovery of new reserves belongs to the government at the mining site. Which is being mined will have no result other than stoning the mine and continuing to shut it down.

In Article 4 of this amendment, three notes have been added to Article 9 of the law, Note 1 of which stipulates that "mining licenses with a progress rate of less than 50% are not negotiable."

According to this amendment, to Article 12 of the Mining Law, the note "The government is obliged to delegate the duties and powers of the Supreme Council of Mines to the" Provincial Mining Council "in order to support, develop and promote the position of the mining sector and mining industries in the national economy." In its Article 6, it has amended Notes 5 and 6 of Article 14 of the Law and added Notes 8, 9 and 10 to it. Thus, in Note 5 of Article 14, the words "and implementation of development projects, agriculture, tourism, entrepreneurship, job creation, infrastructure, treatment, etc. of the city where the mine is located with the priority of the part where the mine is located with the approval of the city planning council with the approval of the governor And the Provincial Planning Council is added after the phrase "environmental protection in the relevant mine".

Pursuant to Article 7 of the Amendment to Article 20 of the Law, the phrase "for first class minerals for a maximum of 6 months and for second class minerals for a maximum of one year" is replaced by the phrase "for the expiration of the prescribed period". Article 8 of the amendment also amends Article 25 of the Mining Law and Article 9 of it amends Article 33 of the Law and proposes some words and phrases to change it.

In Article 10 of its proposed amendment, the Parliamentary Mining Committee annexed an article entitled Article 34 to the Mining Law and described it as follows: "Article 34 - with the aim of improving the business environment and encouraging investment in the mining sector, if the holders of mining licenses To carry out the processes of exploration, equipment and operation of the mine in accordance with the laws, regulations, standards and technical and executive rules and in due time, and also to complete the value chain, including the construction of processing units and production of high value-added products in the city where the mine It is located to invest, at the discretion of the High Council of Mines, a reduction in income tax is given for a certain period. "The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance is obliged to take the necessary measures in accordance with the approvals of the Supreme Council of Mines."

* Tasnim