ANGOLA Law and Practice Contributed by: João Afonso Fialho and Marizeth Vicente, VdA
2. Impact of Environmental Protection and Community Relations on Mining Projects 2.1 Environmental Protection and Licensing of Mining Projects The main requirements for environmental protec - tion can be found in the Mining Code and are usu - ally detailed under the mineral investment contract, including provisions on environmental impact, preser - vation, recovery and rehabilitation. In addition to the Mining Code, holders of mineral rights must comply with the general environmental statutes, including: • the General Environmental Law; • the General Regulations for Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Licensing Proce - dure; • the Decree on Environmental Audits; • the plans for the use of water; • the waste management plan and control of hazard - ous substances; and • national and regional sector strategy and pro - grammes in the fields of environment and sus - tainable development, as well as international instruments to which Angola has committed (for example, the Rio Convention on Biodiversity 1992, the Montreal Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity 2003, Agen - da 21 and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal 1989). Projects which, by their nature, scale or location, affect the environmental and social balance and har - mony must be subject to an environmental impact assessment (EIA). Holders of mineral rights are especially required to: • comply with the obligations deriving from the environmental impact study and the environmen - tal management plan, on the terms established therein; • take the measures necessary to reduce the forma - tion and propagation of dust, waste and radiation in mining areas and surrounding areas to prevent
• a breach of legal obligations, contractual obliga - tions or obligations arising from the concession title; • the abandonment, suspension or reduction of the mineral operations, except as provided for in the Mining Code, the title or the contracts; • the suspension of mineral operations owing to force majeure events, as defined in the contract or concession title; • where the concession holder is convicted of a crime of aggravated contempt because it failed to perform acts provided for in the Mining Code or ordered by the relevant authority; • the reconnaissance, exploration, evaluation and appraisal or mining of mineral resources not included in the contract or concession title; and • where the performance of the contractual obliga - Assignment of rights is subject to government approv - al and shall only be conceded if the assignee satisfies the technical and financial qualification requirements established by the government for awarding of mineral rights. Dispute Resolution The Mining Code is silent on the proper venue to resolve disputes, leaving it up to the dispute resolution clauses of mineral investment contracts. Contract - ing parties tend to include arbitration clauses in their agreements; however, disputes arising from the termi - nation of the concession contract or withdrawal of the concession title, overlapping areas, or compensations due to landowners or possessors by the holders of mineral rights must be resolved by national courts, and disputes on the significance or insignificance of minerals extracted during the reconnaissance, explo - ration, evaluation and appraisal stage for the purpose of assessment of the relevant tax should be settled by the ministry responsible for the mining sector. tions is not possible. Assignment of Rights
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