ANGOLA Law and Practice Contributed by: João Afonso Fialho, Marizeth Vicente and Lukeny Pascoal, VdA
• a breach of legal obligations, contractual obligations 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; • 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 • the performance of the contractual obliga - Assignment of rights is subject to government approval and shall only be conceded if the assignee satisfies the technical and financial qualification requirements established by the government for award of mineral rights. Dispute Resolution The Mining Code is silent on the proper venue to resolve disputes, leaving it up to the dispute res - olution clauses of mineral investment contracts. Contracting parties tend to include arbitration clauses in their agreements; however, disputes arising from the termination of the concession contract or withdrawal of the concession title, overlapping areas, or compensations due to landowners or possessors by the holders of min - eral rights must be resolved by national courts, and disputes on the significance or insignificance of minerals extracted during the reconnaissance, exploration, evaluation and appraisal stage for the purpose of assessment of the relevant tax tions is not possible. Assignment of Rights
should be settled by the Ministry responsible for the mining sector.
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 pro - tection can be found in the Mining Code and are usually detailed under the mineral investment contract, including provisions on environmen - tal impact, preservation, recovery and rehabili - tation. In addition to the Mining Code, holders of mineral rights must comply with the general • the General Regulations for Environmen - tal Impact Assessment and Environmental Licensing Procedure; • the Decree on Environmental Audits; • the plans for the use of water; and • the waste management plan and control of hazardous substances. National and regional sector strategy and pro - grammes in the fields of environment and sus - tainable development, as well as the internation - al instruments to which Angola has committed, for example, the Rio Convention on Biodiver - sity 1992, the Montreal Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diver - sity 2003, the Agenda 21, and the Basel Con - vention on the Control of Transboundary Move - ments of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal 1989. environmental statutes, including: • the General Environmental Law; Projects which, by their nature, scale or location, affect the environmental and social balance and
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