Operation conditions of mineral exploration organizations in Vietnam

Operation conditions of mineral exploration organizations in Vietnam (Illustration)

1. Operation conditions

Specifically, according to the provisions of Article 35 of the Mineral Law 2010, organizations practicing mineral exploration must fully meet the following conditions:

- Being lawfully established;

- Having mineral exploration techniques

- Having necessary special-use equipment and instruments for the construction of mineral exploration works.

In addition, Article 12 of Decree No. 60/2016/ND-CP and Circular 17/2012/TT-BTNMT also stipulate that mineral exploration practicing organizations, when contracting to implement a mineral exploration program with any organization or individual licensed to explore mineral resources must satisfy the following regulations to practice mineral exploration:

- Enterprises must be established in accordance with the Law on Enteprises 2020.

- Science and technology organizations must be established in accordance with the Law on Science and Technology 2013.

- Cooperatives and cooperative alliances must be established under the provisions of the Law on Cooperatives 2012.

- Geology public sector organizations having mineral resource exploration functions and duties must be established by competent regulatory authorities.

On the other hand, the mineral exploration practicing organization specified above, when constructing the project, must have a record of mineral exploration practice.

Practice records are managed and kept by organizations and individuals with mineral exploration licenses and mineral exploration practice organizations.

2. Working conditions for the person in charge of the technical team

a. For rules governing the person in charge:

The person in charge of the technique must have a university degree, majoring in exploration geology, and have worked in mineral exploration for at least 5 years. In addition, the person in charge must be a person who has knowledge and mastery of standards and regulations on mineral exploration.

The person in charge (director), in addition to meeting the conditions under Point b, Clause 1, Article 35 of the 2010 Law on Minerals, must also meet the following conditions: (1) being a Vietnamese citizen or a foreigner with a valid work permit in Vietnam.(2) meet the requirements for a diploma with a university degree or higher in the geology of mineral exploration (for mineral and hot water exploration projects, the major is hydrogeology-public geology and have at least five years of experience.

At the same time, the person in charge must have mastery knowledge of the law on minerals and technical standards and regulations. In particular, the person in charge must be able to organize the sequential implementation of the project's work items.

If the mineral exploration project is hazardous in nature, the person in charge must have time to participate in the position of geotechnical officer on at least one project. For other mineral exploration projects, there must be at least one exploration project for minerals of the same type.

Note: Only when there is a decision on the assignment of tasks by the mineral exploration organization may the project manager perform the task.

A mineral exploration project manager can only undertake a maximum of two projects at the same time. When making a report on exploration results, the project manager must have at least 25% of the construction time specified in the permit (Article 4 of Circular 17/2012/TT-BTNMT).

b. For technical workers:

Technical workers must be qualified and skilled in exploration geology, hydrogeology, engineering geology, geophysics, drilling, excavation, and other related disciplines.

Unlike the manager, groups of technical workers according to the majors during construction must appoint a person in charge. The person in charge must meet the professional requirements and experience more time, namely:

- For a project on mineral exploration with a hazardous nature, the requirements are as follows: A person with a vocational intermediate degree must have at least 5 years of experience, and a person with a university degree must have at least 3 years of experience.

- For other mineral exploration projects, for people with intermediate vocational qualifications, they must have worked for at least 3 years, or 2 years for people with university degrees.

Thus, in order to organize mineral exploration, the manager (person in charge) must meet the above conditions. At the same time, the contingent of specialized technical workers must meet the appropriate quantity requirements stated in the appraised project in the mineral exploration license.

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE