New Mining Law in Bolivia Will Give Power to State

Photo courtesy of Boston Globe archives

Published by EPCM World Contributor, Lima Peru.

Bolivia’s new mining law has a 75-80% consensus between all political parties and its final approval will continue being discussed starting January 31, 2012.

The latest analysis from Fundacion Milenio states that "unlike the previous mining law reforms, the draft presented by the current government administration is not intended to adapt the legal field to the new reality of mining production, instead, is about promoting procedures to acquire, hold and transfer mining rights favoring the Bolivian government.  This proposed law, which is the exact opposite philosophy of the mining code of 1997, seems intent to transform the economic base of a modern mining private state."

José Flores, independent mining engineer consultant, declared that according to the Fundacion Milenio, this new mining law is not a simple set of norms and rules that regulate the mining rights of all participants, and instead it: "ends up being a set of rules for the use and exploitation of mineral resources by the state."

The fundamental change is that after rectifying the ownership of natural resources in the soil and subsoil are of: "direct rule, indivisible and inalienable of the Bolivian people, for the State administration in the collective interest;" therefore replacing good old mining concession with mining contract and licenses. This will force the country to classify into three areas: Government reserves, Mining Area for State usage (AMAES), and  Mining Area for private usage (AMAP).

If approved, the law will uphold that the state has the right to use and exploit mineral resources through state-owned enterprises or joint ventures, and will grant mining rights to private companies through contracts and licenses. According to the analysis, other principles and priority objectives mentioned declaratively in the project include the protection of the environment, long term strategic mining planning and mining exploration, the strategic nature of industrialization and technological development.

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