Rules for licensing exploration and mining of river bed sand and gravel in Vietnam

Rules for licensing exploration and mining of river bed sand and gravel in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet responded as follows:

1. Rules for licensing exploration and mining of river bed sand and gravel in Vietnam

Rules for licensing exploration and mining of river bed sand and gravel in Vietnam according to Article 8 of Decree 23/2020/ND-CP are as follows:

Licensing exploration and mining of river bed sand and gravel shall adhere to rules for licensing exploration and mining of minerals set forth in Clause 1 Article 40 and Clause 1 Article 53 of the Law on Minerals and the following rules:

- The licensing is carried out by holding a mining right auction, except for the case in which the area not reserved for mining right auction has been approved by the competent authority in accordance with regulations of the Law on Minerals.

- If the area to be covered by the license to explore and mine river bed sand and gravel borders at least 02 provinces or central-affiliated cities, before the licensing, the People’s Committee of the province where the applicant is available shall seek a written opinion from the People’s Committee of the bordering province.

- Before the licensing, the provincial People’s Committee shall obtain the written consent from the inland waterway, natural disaster management and irrigation authority and satisfy the requirements set forth in Article 15 of Decree 23/2020/ND-CP.

* In Clause 1, Article 40 of the Law on Minerals 2010, mineral exploration licenses are granted on the following principles:

- Mineral exploration licenses shall be granted only for areas in which no organization or individual is lawfully conducting mineral exploration or mining and which are not banned or temporarily banned from mineral activities, national mineral reserves areas or areas in which geological baseline surveys are being conducted for minerals of the same kind of minerals being applied for;

- Each organization or individual shall be granted no more than 5 mineral exploration licenses, excluding the expired ones; the to-be-explored total area for a specific mineral under all licenses must not exceed 2 times the exploration area under a single license prescribed in Clause 2, Article 38 of the Law on Minerals 2010.

* Clause 1, Article 53 of the Law on Minerals 2010 stipulates that grant of a mining license must adhere to the following principles:

- A mining license is granted only for areas in which no organization or individual is lawfully exploring or mining minerals, but not for areas banned or temporarily banned from mineral activities or areas of national mineral deposits;

- A mineral area in which large-scale mining can be effective may not be divided for the grant of mining licenses to many organizations or individuals for small-scale mining.

2. Contents of the river bed sand and gravel mining license in Vietnam

According to Article 9 of Decree 23/2020/ND-CP, in addition to the contents specified in Clause 1 Article 54 of the Law on Minerals 2010, the river bed sand and gravel mining license shall contain the following contents:

- Permissible daily mining time: from 7am to 5pm, mining at night is not allowed; regulations on mining time periods during a year.

- Responsibilities of organizations and individuals licensed for mining:

+ Determining boundary of the mining area; planting markers at corner points of the mining area;

+ Names and types of vehicles and equipment used for mining and transport of sand and gravel and requirements for registration thereof in accordance with regulations of the Law on Inland Waterway Transport and relevant regulations of law; installation of tracking units and storage of data and information about location and course of such vehicle and equipment;

+ Requirements for the signature of transport contracts with vehicle owners eligible for transport if organizations or individuals mining sand and gravel do not directly transport sand and gravel after mining;

+ Requirements for putting up signboards on river banks within the mining area to publish information about the mining license and mining project: coordinates, area and maps of the mining area; mining time; name of vehicles and equipment used for sand and gravel mining;

+ Exercising duties and responsibilities for natural disaster management in accordance with regulations of law.

- If the sand and gravel mining license has been issued before April 10, 2020, it is required to comply with the regulations laid down in Clause 1 of Article 9 of Decree 23/2020/ND-CP.

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