What kind of major does employee in charge of technical matters in mineral exploration practice enterprises in Vietnam need?

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Question date: 31/03/2023

What kind of major does employee in charge of technical matters in mineral exploration practice enterprises in Vietnam need? What is equity capital required to be granted mineral exploration licenses in Vietnam? What are principles contents of mineral exploration licenses in Vietnam?

Hello, my business is registered in the mining industry, now if I want to expand to mineral exploration, I don't know when it is necessary to have employee in charge of technical matters, which major is suitable? What is equity capital required to be granted mineral exploration licenses? Please advise.

    • What kind of major does employee in charge of technical matters in mineral exploration practice enterprises in Vietnam need?

      Pursuant to Article 35 of the 2010 Law on Minerals, conditions on mineral exploration practice organizations are as follows:

      1. A mineral exploration practice organization must satisfy the following conditions:

      a/ Being lawfully established;

      b/ Having an employee in charge of technical matters who possesses a university degree in geological exploration and has worked for at least five years in mineral exploration and a deep knowledge about standards and technical regulations on mineral exploration;

      c/ Having a staff of technical workers specialized in geological exploration, hydrogeology, engineering geology, geophysics, drilling, excavation and other relevant disciplines;

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

      2. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall specify conditions for mineral exploration practice.

      Thus, mineral exploration practice enterprises must have an employee in charge of technical matters who possesses a university degree in geological exploration and has worked for at least five years in mineral exploration to meet the criteria specified above in Vietnam.

      What is equity capital required to be granted mineral exploration licenses in Vietnam?

      According to Article 40 of the 2010 Mineral Law as amended by Clause 10, Article 8 of the Law Amendments to some articles concerning planning of 37 laws in 2018, principles and conditions for granting mineral exploration licenses are as follows:

      1. Mineral exploration licenses are granted on the following principles:

      a/ 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;

      b/ 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 this Law.

      2. To be granted mineral exploration licenses, organizations and individuals must meet the following conditions:

      a/ Being selected by competent state management agencies under Article 36 of this Law or having won auctions for mineral mining rights in unexplored areas under this Law; organizations and individuals that are ineligible for mineral exploration practice under in Clause 1, Article 35 of this Law must sign contracts with eligible organizations defined in Clause 1, Article 35 of this Law;

      b) Set up an exploration project that is conformable with relevant planning as prescribed by the law on planning. In case of exploration of hazardous minerals, it is required to obtain written permission from the Prime Minister;

      c/ Having an equity capital at least equal to 50% of the total investment capital for the implementation of the mineral exploration project.

      3. Business households defined in Clause 2. Article 34 of this Law may explore minerals for use as common construction materials if they fully meet the conditions set by the Government

      According to this Article, an enterprise must have equity capital at least equal to 50% of the total investment capital for the implementation of the mineral exploration project and satisfy other conditions specified above in order to be granted mineral exploration licenses in Vietnam.

      What are principles contents of mineral exploration licenses in Vietnam?

      In Article 41 of the 2010 Mineral Law, mineral exploration licenses are prescribed as follows:

      1/ A mineral exploration license must contain the following principal details:

      a/ Name of the exploring organization or individual;

      b/ Kind of mineral, location and size of the exploration area;

      c/ Method and volume of exploration;

      d/ Exploration duration;

      e/ Financial and other relevant obligations.

      2. A mineral exploration license is valid for 48 months at most and may be extended multiple times for a total maximum duration of 48 months. Upon each extension, the licensed organization or individual shall return at least 30% of exploration area stated in the granted license.

      The exploration duration includes the time for implementing a mineral exploration project, time for submitting mineral deposit for approval and time for formulating a mining investment project. In case an organization or individual licensed lor exploring minerals transfers the mineral exploration right to another, the exploration duration is the remaining period of the previously granted mineral exploration license.

      Thus, a mineral exploration license must contain the main contents specified above in Vietnam.

      Best Regards!

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    "This English translation is for reference purposes only and not a definitive translation of the original Vietnamese texts"

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