ECUADOR Law and Practice Contributed by: Roque Bernardo Bustamante and Claudia Bustamante, Flor Bustamante Pizarro & Hurtado
For the granting of mining concessions, the Min - istry of Energy and Mines will call for a public auction for the granting of all metallic-mining concessions. Likewise, it will call for a public auction for the granting of mining concessions on areas of concessions that have expired or that have been returned or reverted to the State, in which the petitioners shall participate and pre - sent their respective offers in accordance with the procedure established by the law. The mining concession is an administrative act that grants a mining title, over which the holder has a personal right, which is transferable prior to the mandatory qualification of the suitability of the transferee of mining rights by the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and on this may be estab - lished pledges, assignments in guarantee and other guarantees provided by law, in accordance with the prescriptions and requirements contem - plated in this law and its general regulations. The mining title, without losing its personal char - acter, confers on its holder the exclusive right to prospect, explore, exploit, benefit, melt, refine, commercialise and dispose of all the mineral substances that may exist and be obtained in the area of that concession, becoming a ben - eficiary of the economic yields obtained from those processes, within the limits established in the present regulation. The mining conces - sionaire must comply with its tax obligations in order to benefit from and carry out the activi - ties conferred by this title and may only do so once the preliminary administrative acts have been met. These include acquiring an environ - mental licence and an independent certificate from the water authority that evidences that the proposed activities shall not have any impact on water sources.
The mining concession shall have a term of up to 25 years, which may be renewed for equal periods, provided that a written request from the concessionaire has been submitted to the Minis - try of Energy and Mines for that purpose prior to its expiry and a favourable report has previously been obtained from ARCOM and the Ministry of the Environment. The mining concession will be divided into an exploration stage and an exploitation stage. Dur - ing the exploration stage, a distinction will be made between the initial exploration period, the period of advanced exploration and the period of integral economic evaluation of the deposit. It will incorporate the main, secondary and other minerals of economic value. Mining holders may suspend activities when the protection of the health and life of mining workers or communities located within a cer - tain distance of the area where mining activity takes place so requires, as provided in the gen - eral regulations of the law, when required by the Civil Defence or when non-compliance with the environmental licence by the competent envi - ronmental authority is verified. In any case, the suspension of mining activities shall be ordered exclusively by the Minister of Energy and Mines, by means of a reasoned resolution. A mining concessionaire who is prevented from carrying out their mining activities normally, due to force majeure or a fortuitous case duly proven, may apply to the Ministry of Energy and Mines for the suspension of the concession term for the period that the impediment lasts. For this purpose, the Ministry of Industry, by means of a reasoned resolution, shall admit or deny any such request.
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