Mining 2025

BOLIVIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Ramiro Guevara, Jorge Inchauste and Rosario Echeverría, Dentons Guevara & Gutiérrez S.C.

• Environmental Regulations for Mining Activi - ties, approved by Supreme Decree No 24782 of 31 July 1997, govern the environmental permits that must be obtained for the devel - opment of mining activities in Bolivia. 1.3 Ownership of Mineral Resources According to Article 349.I of the Bolivian Consti - tution, ground and underground resources are fully owned by the Bolivian people; therefore, the Bolivian State is prohibited from transferring the ownership of these resources. However, the Bolivian State can authorise their exploration and exploitation. The Mining and Metallurgy Law provides that any mining activity must be executed under the new legal framework of administrative min - ing contracts. The existing Special Temporary Authorisations ( Autorizaciones Transitorias Especiales or ATE), formerly known as “mining concessions”, must be converted into admin - istrative mining contracts by the Jurisdictional Administrative Mining Authority. This type of contract does not require the participation of the Bolivian State through the state-owned Bolivian Mining Corporation (known as COMIBOL). How - ever, all contracts related to the lithium resource production chain require the participation of state-owned company YLB. 1.4 Role of the State in Mining Law and Regulations The role of the Bolivian State in mining includes its participation as grantor-regulator and owner- operator. As Grantor-Regulator The Mining and Metallurgy Law created a new supervisory entity, the Autoridad Jurisdiccional Administrativa Minera (AJAM), whose role is to grant mining rights and oversee and control eve -

ry mining activity carried out in Bolivia, as well as the Mining Registry. Another central responsibility of the AJAM is to draft and propose legislation to the executive power, in order to regulate the transition of ATEs into administrative mining contracts. As Owner-Operator The Bolivian State incorporated and fully owns COMIBOL, which has been granted exclusiv - ity over very large areas of mineral-rich lands for mining. However, many such areas are not currently being exploited by COMIBOL. In addi - tion, the Bolivian State has granted state-owned company YLB control of all Lithium-rich depos - its. If an area with potential is registered under the name of COMIBOL (or under the name of another state-owned mining company), then a mining association contract may be requested and entered with such state-owned entity. This contract is similar to a joint venture agreement, highlighting that the contract must be executed under Bolivian laws. The following entities also have influence and supervision over the Bolivian mining industry. • The Ministry of Mining and Metallurgy is responsible for the mining policy and desig - nates the president of COMIBOL. • The Bolivian Geological Mining Service (SERGEOMIN for its acronym in Spanish), a branch of the Ministry of Mining and Metallur - gy, is responsible for the management of the mineral titles system. It also provides geologi - cal and technical information, and maintains a geological library and a publications distri - bution centre donated by the United States

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