New Mining Law Draft Incoming
Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry Ts.Dashdorj and Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs S.Byambatsogt have approved a concept for a new Mining Law draft in January 2017. A new working group was established at the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry to draft the new Mining Law, which would form the basis of the mining legislation and considered to be one of the most important legal approaches to the geological and mining industry.
The new Mining Law covers the gap that the current legislations that regulating mining where the issues related to the investment, prospecting, mining, processing of minerals, rehabilitation, occupational safety as well as the mine closure are left uncovered. The existing Minerals Law, adopted on 08 July 2006 and amended numerous times, focuses more on regulating licensing and cadastral activities. However, the current Minerals Law will remain effective and will not be replaced by the proposed Mining Law, whereas, current Law on Common Minerals will be completely replaced by the Mining Law.
Scope of the new Mining Law draft
The new Mining Law now being drafted aims to regulate all aspects of the mining lifecycle starting from the establishment to closure of mine including geological survey, exploration, conducting a feasibility study, mining, processing and sale of minerals, protection of the environment, health and safety of the miners themselves. It covers 145 articles.
There is a widely-held hope that the new Mining Law will bring positive changes that clarify the roles and responsibilities of government authorities and license holders and will help to regain the foreign and domestic investment.
