On February 9, 2021 the National Mining Agency (“ANM”, as per its acronym in Spanish) announced that the qualification process for the companies interested in participating in the Mining Round 2021 will begin on February 25, however company request their qualification to participate in the process since February 11. The ANM has made it clear that the main objective of the Mining Round 2021 is to promote mining exploration in Colombia in a sustainable and competitive manner, in coordination with regional and local development. The process will begin with the selection of investors seeking to be awarded special exploration and exploitation contracts for four blocks with copper and polymetallic potential located in La Guajira and Cesar.
The bases for this type of process were established in Decree 1681 of 2020, which modified the structure of the National Mining Agency. Article 2 of said decree assigned as a function to the president of the ANM, the issuance of administrative acts for the determination of strategic minerals for the country and the terms of reference of the objective selection processes for the awarding of strategic mining reserve areas. Likewise, the areas to be awarded will be those defined as strategic mining reserve, in the terms of Article 20 of Law 1753 of 2015, whose awarding must be made through an objective selection process. It is important to mention that no new proposals will be received for these areas and no mining concession contracts will be signed.
Article 20 of Law 1753 of 2015 also establishes that in the terms of reference of the selection processes the ANM must establish: the minimum requirements for participation, the qualification factors, the special obligations of the concessionaire and the minimum economic considerations in addition to the royalties. In this regard, the ANM has published the following drafts for comments from the general public: (i) resolution whereby the terms of reference of the Mining Round 2021 are adopted; (ii) Terms of Reference; and (iii) minutes of special contract for exploration and mining exploitation.
Interested parties should send their comments to the following e-mail addresses: monica.munoz@anm.gov.co and juan.ruiz@anm.gov.co, until February 18, 2021. You can find the mentioned projects at the following link: https://www.anm.gov.co/?q=documentos_para_comentarios_ciudadania.