Announcement of the Ministry of Natural Resources on Matters Concerning Application for Registration of Mining Rights

Editor | Wendy

   The Ministry of Natural Resources issued an announcement on the 17th, stating that starting from May 1, 2020, the same level of management for the registration of prospecting rights and mining rights for the same mineral will be implemented.

   Starting from May 1, 2020, 14 types of minerals including petroleum, hydrocarbons, natural gas, shale gas, natural gas hydrates, radioactive minerals, tungsten, rare earths, tin, antimony, molybdenum, cobalt, lithium, potassium salts, and crystalline graphite The establishment, renewal, alteration of prospecting rights and mining rights (involving changes in minerals, subject to the changed main minerals), reservation, cancellation of registration, and delimitation of mining areas are all handled by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

   For other mineral prospecting rights and mining rights that have been registered before May 1, 2020 by the Ministry of Natural Resources, as well as the approved trial mining and approved delineated mining areas, the subsequent registration items shall be determined by the natural resources of the administrative region at or below the provincial level. The competent department handles it. Among them, the follow-up registration items of 11 minerals such as coal, coal bed methane, iron, chromium, copper, aluminum, gold, nickel, zirconium, phosphorus, and fluorite are handled by the provincial natural resources department.

Ministry of Natural Resources

April 17, 2020

News trace

      "Opinions of the Ministry of Natural Resources on Promoting the Reform of Mineral Resources Management (for Trial Implementation)" released

2020-01-09

   On December 31, 2019, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Reform of Mineral Resources Management (for Trial Implementation)" (Natural Resources Regulations [2019] No. 7, hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"). The issuance of the document is mainly based on three considerations: First, implement the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on the reform of the mining rights transfer system, the reform of the oil and gas system, the overall promotion of the reform of the natural resource asset property rights system, and the intensification of oil and gas exploration and development. The reform of “Governance and Service” will give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and better play the role of the government; second, based on the actual situation of mineral resource exploration and mining, in order to solve the outstanding problems in the management of mineral resources, some mature and feasible experience in practice will be refined In summary, it has risen to the system level to provide policy guarantees for the normal and orderly promotion of mineral resources management; the third is to promote relevant system reforms, take first steps, and accumulate important practical experience for the revision of the Mineral Resources Law.

   The "Opinions" mainly include the reform of the mining rights transfer system, the reform of the management of oil and gas exploration and exploitation, and the reform of the reserves management, with a total of 11 articles.

   Regarding the reform of the mining rights transfer system, the first is to comprehensively promote the competitive transfer of mining rights, clarifying that in addition to the agreement transfer, other mining rights will be transferred through open competition through bidding, auction, and listing. The second is to strictly control the transfer by agreement. Rare earth and radioactive mineral exploration and mining projects or key construction projects approved by the State Council can be transferred to a specific subject by agreement, and similar minerals in the deep or upper part of the established mining rights can be transferred to the same subject by agreement. The third is to actively promote the transfer of "net mines", carry out the transfer of "net mines" for the direct transfer of mining rights such as sand, gravel and soil, actively promote the transfer of "net mines" of other minerals, strengthen the preliminary preparations for the transfer of mining rights, and evade transfers in accordance with laws and regulations. The red line of ecological protection and other prohibition on the exploration and mining area, do a good job in linking with the approval items such as land use, marine forest and grass, so that the mining right holder can carry out the normal exploration and mining work after the mining right is transferred. The fourth is to implement the same level management of the transfer and registration of the same mineral prospecting rights and mining rights to solve the problems caused by the different levels of management of the same mineral prospecting rights and mining rights. The Ministry of Natural Resources is responsible for the mining of 14 important strategic minerals such as petroleum, hydrocarbons and natural gas. The transfer and registration of mining rights; the major minerals of strategic minerals are controlled through mineral resource planning, and the provincial-level natural resources authority is responsible for the transfer and registration of mining rights. Other minerals are under the responsibility of the natural resources department at the provincial level and below. Fifth, standardize the geological survey work with financial contributions. For exploration projects funded by the central or local finances, no new prospecting rights will be established, and geological prospecting will be carried out based on the project mission statement. Where a prospecting right has been established, the natural resources competent authority may continue to handle the renewal of the prospecting right, and after completing the required exploration work, the prospecting right shall be cancelled, and the natural resources competent department shall face the open competition of various market entities to transfer the mining right. Sixth, adjust the term of prospecting rights. According to the technical laws of mineral exploration work, the first registration period of prospecting rights established by transfer is extended to 5 years, and the duration of each time is 5 years. When the prospecting right applies for renewal of registration, 25% of the initial area shall be deducted.

   Regarding the reform of oil and gas exploration and exploitation management, one is to liberalize oil and gas exploration and exploitation. Domestic and foreign companies registered in the People's Republic of China with a net asset of no less than 300 million yuan are eligible to obtain oil and gas mining rights in accordance with regulations; the second is to implement an integrated oil and gas exploration and production system. According to the technical characteristics of exploration and exploitation of oil and gas different from non-oil and gas minerals, and in view of the problems that have existed for many years, if the oil and gas prospecting rights holder discovers the oil and gas resources that can be exploited, the exploitation can be carried out after reporting to the natural resources authority with registration authority. The prospecting right holder of oil and gas mineral resources shall sign a mining right transfer contract within 5 years and go through the mining right registration in accordance with the law.

   Regarding the reform of reserves management, the first is to reform the classification of mineral resources reserves. Simplify the classification of mineral resources and reserves. Solid minerals are divided into two types: resource and reserves. Resources are divided into three levels: inferred resources, controlled resources and proven resources, and reserves are divided into two levels: credible reserves and proven reserves. Oil and gas minerals are divided into two categories: resources and geological reserves. The resources are no longer classified. According to the degree of geological reliability, the geological reserves are divided into three levels: predicted geological reserves, controlled geological reserves, and proven geological reserves. The second is to simplify the merger review filing and registration matters. The registration link and the registration book are cancelled. The content of the mineral resource reserve registration book is included in the review and record management, and is no longer used as an essential part of the mining right registration. The review and record results are used as the basis for statistics. The third is to reduce the scope of direct government review and filing. The original 18 types of review and filing situations were reduced to 4 types, namely, only the conversion of prospecting rights to mining rights, the change of mineral types and scope of mining rights, the proven geological reserves of oil and gas minerals during prospecting and mining, and the significant changes in the resources of other minerals during the mining period The reserves of mineral resources and important minerals covered by construction projects are reviewed and put on record.

Source: Ministry of Natural Resources

From "ECF International Shale Gas Forum"