In the framework of the launching of the 2021 Mining Round, the National Mining Agency (“ANM”, per its acronym in Spanish) has issued Resolution 83 of 2021 (the “Resolution 83”) which defines the criteria to participate in the awarding processes of Strategic Mining Reserve Areas (“AEM”, per its acronym in Spanish). The criteria included in Resolution 83 must be met by all those interested in participating in the 2021 Mining Round. According to article 2 of Resolution 83, all persons, natural or legal, national or foreign, may participate in these selection processes. Participants may apply for qualification in one of the following typologies: (i) Type A; (ii) Type B; (iii) Type C. The difference between these types lies in the financial, technical, environmental and corporate social responsibility requirements for participants wishing to qualify. Participants may present themselves individually complying with all legal, technical, financial, environmental, financial, technical, environmental and corporate social responsibility requirements. In case of participating through a plural structure, each participant must comply with the legal requirements individually, but the other requirements may be complied with by at least one (1) of the participants of the structure.
The legal requirements to be met by the participants will be the same regardless of the typology for which they wish to qualify. All national or foreign legal entities with a branch in Colombia must comply with the requirements established in Article 14 of Resolution 83, among which are that the corporate purpose includes, or allows, the development of mining activities, that the legal representative is empowered to commit the legal entity, and that the term of duration of the participant is not less than the term of execution of the respective mining contract plus three additional years. In the case of participants that are foreign legal entities without a branch in Colombia, they must provide the document evidencing their existence and legal representation by means of a certificate issued by the competent authority of their country. In case the authority does not exist, or the aforementioned certificate is not issued, other documents evidencing the existence and legal representation of the participant must be provided. Such participant must accredit a proxy domiciled in Colombia, who must be authorized to submit the application for qualification and to perform any other act required to participate in objective selection processes or mining projects in the AEM’s.
In the case of participants that seek qualification as plural structures, the association document of the parties must be provided, the appointment of the legal representatives of the plural participant must be accredited and the existence, validity and legal representation of the members of the plural participant must be accredited as well. The association document must clearly and explicitly state whether the plural participant will be a joint venture or a consortium.
Regarding the financial, technical, environmental and corporate social responsibility requirements, these will change depending on the typology for which the participant is required to qualify, as mentioned above. Likewise, the participants may qualify as restricted qualifiers, which means that they will not have to evidence their financial capacity, however they may participate in the objective selection processes, for which it will be necessary for them to evidence their financial capacity.
It is important to highlight that all the enabling requirements, except the legal ones, may be accredited by the participants, or the members of the plural participant, through (i) companies controlled by the participant; (ii) parent company of the participant; or (iii) companies controlled by the parent company of the participant.
The submission of all the documentation to qualify under these processes will be made through AnnA Minería, unless the ANM indicates otherwise, therefore it will not be necessary to present physical documentation at the offices of the ANM. The documentation must be submitted in Spanish, and in the event, it is submitted in another language, it must be submitted with an official translation along with a copy of the original document. Official translations must comply with the legalization and apostille requirements set forth in Resolution 1959 of 2020 issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Finally, the qualification process regulated in Resolution 83 will have a maximum duration of thirty (30) business days. Likewise, it is worth mentioning that these same requirements will be used by the ANM to qualify the parties interested in participating in the Mining Round 2021, so as of today, such parties may seek their qualification before the ANM.