Mining Legislation & Law

1. This law governs the terms for the exercise of the rights and obligations regarding the use of mineral resources taking into account the environment, aiming its rational utilization to the benefit of the national economy.

2. The petroleum use is governed by a specific legislation.

OBJECTIVES: ARTICLE 2

The right to the use of mineral resources shall be exercised in accordance with the best and safest mining practices, observing legally established patterns of environmental quality, with the view of sustainable development in the long-term and aiming at realizing the following objectives: a) Reconnaissance; b) Exploration; c) Mining; d) Treatment and processing; e) Trade or other forms of disposal of the mineral products; f) other purposes related to those described above.

OWNERSHIP OF MINERAL RESOURCES: ARTICLE 4

1. Mineral resources found in the soil or in the subsoil, in territorial waters or on the seabed within territorial waters, in the exclusive economic zone or on the continental platform of the Republic of Mozambique , are the property of the State under the terms of the Constitution.

DEFINITIONS ARTICLE 3

The meaning of the words herein used are shown in the glossary attached to this law, of which it is an integral part.

GLOSSARY OF THE MINING LAW

1. Mining Activity – operations consisting of development in isolated or joint form of activities such as reconnaissance, prospecting, exploration, mining, processing and treatment;

2. Mineral Water – underground water originating from aquifers catchments area sprouting through a spring or natural exits, as well as obtained through bore-holes, wells, galleries or any excavation made to capture water, with therapeutic properties as it emerge, including minero-medicinal, medicinal and thermal waters;

3. Mining Certificate Area – area subject to a mining certificate;

4. Designated Area for Mining Pass – area declared available for the attribution of mining passes

5. Exploration Area – area subject to an exploration license;

6. Reconnaissance Area – area subject to a reconnaissance license;

7. Mining concession Area – area subject to a mining concession;

8. Environmental Audit – a tool for systematic, documented and objective management and evaluation, of the functioning and organization of the management system and the environmental control and protection processes;

9. Permit – a mining pass or other document granting the right to small-scale mining exploitation in designated areas or the realization of geological research works;

10. Environmental Impact Assessment – a tool for preventive environmental management, which consists of prior qualitative and quantitative identification and analysis of beneficial and harmful environmental effects resulting from a proposed mining activity;

11. Mining Certificate – mining title granted in accordance with this Law, allowing for small-scale exploitation of mineral resources;

12. Mining Concession – title granted in accordance with this Law, allowing the exploitation of mineral resources;

13. Mining Contract – written contract in accordance with Article 25 of this Law;

14. Environmental Impact Study – component of the environmental impact assessment process that analyses technically and scientifically, the consequences of the implantation and development of activities on the environment;

15. Mining Exploitation – operations and works related to exploration, extraction, treatment and processing of mineral resources, including their technical and economic utilization as well as the necessary or related activities of development and trade of these mineral products;

16. Franchising – a contract according to which the license-holder sells a product, offers a service or produces an item under a trade-mark or license holder;

17. Direct Foreign Investment – any form of foreign capital contribution susceptible of pecuniary valuation which constitutes personal capital or resources or at the account or risk of a foreign investor, originating from countries abroad and destined for incorporation in investment for the undertaking of mining projects, through a company registered in Mozambique and operating from the Mozambican territory;

18. Direct National Investment – any form of national capital contribution susceptible of pecuniary valuation that constitutes personal capital or resources or at the account or risk of a national investor, destined for the undertaking of mining projects, through a company registered in Mozambique and operating from the Mozambican territory;

19. Indirect Investment – it refers to, isolate or cumulatively, the forms of loans, supplementary capital shares which remuneration takes the form of interest earnings upon an undertaking to which they are applied, patented technology, technical processes, confidential and industrial patterns, franchising, registered trade-marks, technical assistance and other forms of access to their utilization, be it exclusively or through restricted licensing based on geographical areas or industrial and/or commercial activity domains;

20. Exploration License – mining title granted under the terms of this Law, which allows the exploration of mineral resources;

21. Reconnaissance License – mining title granted in accordance with this Law, allowing the reconnaissance of mineral resources;

22. Exportable Profits – part of liquid profits or dividends of all expenses related to mining activities, involving direct foreign investment, eligible for of profits in accordance with the terms of this Law, whose remittance abroad may be undertaken by the investor at his own free initiative, once the payment of taxes and other obligations owed to the State, legal deductions related to the constitution or replacement of reserve funds, credit refund goods and been respective interests and additional existing obligations provided for third parties has been provided for;

23. Mine – any place, excavation or works where mineral exploitation is undertaken, including all infra-structures and land provisions, surface or underground, aerial, fluvial, lacustrine and marine, that are necessary for the operation, functioning and maintenance of mining exploitation, also covering the spaces for storing mining products such as debris, waste and residuals, as well as social infrastructures;

24. Mining – Extraction of any mineral Resources;

25. Ministry – the Ministry overseeing the area of mineral resources;

26. Mining Operations –works undertaken in the context of any mining activity;

27. Petroleum – crude oil, natural gas or other hydrocarbons produced or susceptible of being produced from crude oil or natural gas, shales or bituminous soils;

28. Environmental Management Plan – document containing technical and scientific analysis of mining activities, as well as environmental objectives, including social, economic and cultural aspects;

29. Processing – the activities undertaken in the context of any mining activity with the aim of obtaining metals, alloy or other mineral products that require treatment from other mineral substances either as extracted or as previously subjected to treatment in accordance with this law;

30. Mining Product or ore– refers to minerals extracted from the land with or without beneficiation or processing;

31. Programme for the Control of Risk and Emergency Situations – a set of procedures for the different risks for activity accidents, where the causes, consequences, frequency or probability, prevention and risk reduction measures are included;

32. Mine Closure Programme – methods and procedures undertaken in the conception, development, construction, operation and closure, with the aim of decommissioning a mine and the rehabilitation and monitoring the environmental and of adjoining areas affected by mining activity, including social, economic and cultural aspects;

33. Environmental Management Programme – document consisting of methods and procedures aimed at achieving environmental objectives and goals, including also an environmental monitoring programme and a mine closure plan, including social, economic and cultural aspects;

34. Environmental Monitoring Programme – a set of methods and procedures for the monitoring of environmental objectives and goals, including social economic and cultural aspects;

35. Exploration – activities undertaken with the aim of discovering, identifying, determining characteristics and assessment of the economic value of mineral resources;

36. Reconnaissance – activities undertaken with the aim of identifying mineral resources through geoscientific methods;

37. Mineral Resources – any solid, liquid or gaseous substance formed on the crust of the land by geological phenomenon or linked to them;

38. Mineral Resources for Building Materials– minerals and rocks with appropriate physical-mechanical and chemical properties appropriate to be used as minerals for construction, technically known as inert;

39. Fiscal Regime – taxation regime applicable to the development of a mining activity in according with terms and conditions defined in it;

40. Royalty – payment to an inventor, author or editor for the use of his patents or rights;

41. Mining Pass – a permit granted in accordance with terms of this Law, allowing for small-scale mining activity in areas designated for the mining pass;

42. Mining Title – reconnaissance license, exploration license, mining concession and mining certificate or any of these titles, according to the context in which the expression mining title is used;

43. Title-holder – individual or entity on whose name the mining title is held in accordance with this Law;

44. Treatment – an operation that aims at achieving the concentration, beneficiation and purification of mineral resources, as well as the separation of the respective mineral substances;

45. Land User –individual or entity that, in accordance with the Land Law and the other applicable regulations, uses or occupies land;