A foreigner’s guide to mining in Colombia

By: Daniel Franco, Geologist, M. Sc. Geophysics, Mining Consultant, GEOLANEL S.A.S.

If you are interested in starting or investing on a mining project located in Colombia, you should get to know some of the key concepts and aspects that regulates mining operations in the country. We have made this guide for foreigners who find it difficult to understand the laws that govern this activity and the many processes that must be done to obtain the mineral rights and the proper permits to develop a mining project.

Mining is a long and complex topic; however, we can start with the key figure that governs all types of mining in Colombia: the mining title.

The concept of a mining title in Colombia

“Mining title” is the direct English translation of the Colombian concept of “título minero”, however, directly translating this concept might not convey the entire meaning behind it, since each country has different figures that govern mining activities in their territory. We might be tempted to say that the closest english translation of “título minero” is the concept of mining claim, and it does have several similarities, however there are also fundamental differences that make mining titles in Colombia different to mining claims in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries, we must also bear in mind that English speaking countries also have different definitions for the concept of “mining claim”. Having these precautions in mind, lets define the concept of mining title in Colombia:

A mining title in Colombia is the right, given by the state, to mine and sell a specific mineral or group of minerals in a specific area for a specific lapse of time. A mining title only applies for a particular area and for a certain group of minerals, however, in case of a discovery, new minerals can be added to the mining title. Mining titles are granted for a maximum time lapse of 30 years, however, in the case of a discovery of new mineral reserves, the title holder can solicit an extension. A mining title does not grant any right over the land in which it is located, as it only pertains to mineral extraction and commercialization. In Colombia, mining titles can be requested and granted over privately owned land, even if the land is not owned by the requestor, although, for the exploration and mineral extraction to take place there must exist a deal between the owner of the land and the title holder. Proof of mineral discovery is not mandatory to request a mining title, since in Colombia, the exploration is assumed to take place after the request for a mining title is filed. Proof of the presence of minerals will be solicited in later parts of the process, and according to the results of the exploration, the mining title can be retained, or it may be ceded partially or completely. The process of requesting a mining title according to Colombian mining law does not involve the placing of any physical monument on the requested area, such as the U.S. mining law, but it does require to precisely define the extent and shape of the requested area.  Mining titles in Colombia only take the shape of polygons, the difference between “lode claims” and “placer claims” that is found in the U.S. mining law does not exist in Colombia, since one cannot request a lode, but must request an area. The maximum limit to request is 5.000 hectares (around 12.355 acres), however, requests that involve large areas will be subjected to harsher evaluations by the ANM. Oil, gas, hydrogen and other valuable naturally ocurring fluids cannot be granted in a mining title, since these can only pertain to natural solids substances (minerals). The concept of “saleable minerals” that exists in U.S. mining law does not exist in Colombian mining law, so minerals such as sand, gravel, clay and construction materials can be subject of a mining request in the same way as all the other minerals. Moreover, mineral titles in Colombia do not need to be requested on public land, they can be requested on privately owned land without the need of any additional process (bear in mind that the activities of exploration and extraction do need to stablish a deal with the landowner).

The government institution in charge of evaluating, granting and supervising mining the titles is the National Mining Agencia or “Agencia Nacional de Minería” (commonly called the ANM). There are many different types of mining titles in Colombia, some of them are specially designed for traditional mining communities, small-scaled operations, and government institutions. For the case of foreigners interested in mining in Colombia, the main type of mining title that should be considered is the concession contract or “contrato de concesión”, this type of mining title is the more flexible and most importantly, can be solicited by foreign parties.

The first step to start a mining project in Colombia is to request a mining title, if the request process is done successfully, the Colombian state will file a mining request or “solicitud minera”. Understanding the concept of a mining request is fundamental to succeeding in the process of obtaining a mining title, due to this, we will further discuss this concept and how to file a mining request in our article entirely dedicated to mining requests in Colombia.

Once the mining request is successfully filed and it is granted to the requestor, the requested area will be excluded from other potential requestors, this will prevent other parties from filing requests in your area, as long as you properly maintain your request and do not let it expire. Even though a mining request still does not grant the right to extract minerals, it does give the requestor the exclusive right to potentially obtain the mining title.

The process of filing a request requires several documents, some of which can only be obtained trough other Colombian institutions, which will take some time to issue them. To successfully file your mining request, one must prepare all the documents needed, since not providing them will result in the rejection of the request and the loss of the requesting fee. If you want to know more about the concept of a mining request, the process of filing it and the necessary documentation, you can visit our article on the mining request process.

If the mining request is successful, the government will grant the requestor a mining title. Once the mining title is granted, the title holder is expected to start the process of geological exploration and the design of their mining project. The title holder must submit a very detailed document called the Works and Labors Program or “Programa de Trabajos y Obras” (commonly known by its acronym: PTO), in which the entire mining project is explained, this document must include detailed exploration reports, geological maps, results of laboratory assays, descriptions of the future mining labors, and a financial evaluation of the project among many other technical documents. For the mining extraction to start, the PTO must be previously approved by the National Mining Agency. In GEOLANEL S.A.S. we specialize on elaborating the technical documentation that mining projects must submit to the ANM, if you are interested in a free quotation for the elaboration of the PTO for your mining project in Colombia, please contact us, our team of professionals we will be glad to assist you.

Also, the new title holder is expected to start the process of obtaining an environmental permit or “Licencia ambiental”, which can only be issued by the Colombian environmental institutions. The competence of these environmental institutions to regulate mining projects is defined by the location of the mining title. There are a total of 33 regional environmental institutions in Colombia, known as “Corporaciones autónomas Regionales” each of which has competence over certain geographical region. When a mining project exceeds a certain threshold in terms of production, it is classified by Colombian mining law as “great mining” and the competence to supervise its environmental program is given to a national level institution called the National Autority of Environmental Permits or “Autoridad Nacional de Licencias Ambientales”. Projects classified as Great Mining are subjected to harsher environmental requirements than those classified as small or medium mining. Once the competent environmental institution that will supervise the mining title has been defined, the title holder must prepare a very detailed document in which the environmental impact of their mining project is measured and a program to mitigate these impacts if formulated. These documents are known as the Study of Environmental Impact or “Estudio de Impacto Ambiental (EIA)” and Environmental Management Program or “Programa de Manejo Ambiental (PMA)”, the former documents are closely related and are usually submitted together to the competent environment agency. Once these documents are approved an environmental permit is granted, the title holder is expected to follow their Environmental Management Program diligently, the compliance of this program is closely monitored by the competent environmental institution. The mining extraction can only begin when the environmental permit is granted to the title holder.

In summary, there are two main institutions that oversee mining projects in Colombia: The National Mining Agencia (ANM), which is a national-level institution; and the competent environmental agency, that varies depending on the location and size of the mining projects. For a new title holder, the ANM will require the document known as PTO (Program of Labors and Works), and its approval is mandatory for the mining project to start operating, in parallel to this, the competent environment agency will require two closely related documents know as: EIA and PMA (Study of Environment Impact and Environmental Management Program), the approval of these documents grants the environmental permit, which is also mandatory for a mining project to be able to operate. Once these two requirements are properly managed, the mining project can start operating.

Who can hold a mining title in Colombia?

Foreign companies and people can be holders of a mining title, and their claims are evaluated under the same set of rules that Colombian nationals, however certain additional documentation might be solicited to foreigners such as the immigration card “cédula de extranjeria” for the case of a foreign person, or the documents that act as a proof of having a registered succursal in the country for the case of a foreign company. Foreign states and foreign public institutions cannot hold a mining title in Colombia.