A foreigner’s guide to mining in Colombia: the mining title request

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

If you have made your way to this page, you are likely to be very interested in the subject of mining and particularly in Colombia. This is a sub-page of our Foreigner’s guide to mining in Colombia, and is dedicated specifically to the concept of a request for a mining title, since this is the first step to start a new mining project in Colombia and it is a process that has considerable complexity, we have made this page entirely dedicated to explaining the basic precautions that should be followed when requesting a mining title in Colombia.

First things first: what is a mining title request?

To obtain a mining title in Colombia, a request for it should be filed in the National Mining Agency (ANM). The process of requesting and obtaining the mining title can be lengthy and it must be done with great care, since the request will be evaluated by the ANM and there are several steps in which it can be rejected, which will cause the loss of the request fee and most importantly, the loss of valuable time and effort.

The request of a mining title is a legal figure by itself, it is registered in the Colombian Mining Cadaster and it grants the requestor the exclusive right to potentially be the title holder of the area. A requested area will be excluded from other potential requestors, this aspect is fundamental because it gives requestors the power to essentially “block” an area from other potential requestors, since, as long as a request is still valid, the area cannot be requested again.

Once a mining title request has been filed, the process of evaluation starts. This evaluation is divided into three main steps: technical evaluation, economic evaluation and juridic evaluation. Each of those steps will be done separately, by a specialized team of professionals, who will verify that the mining request is technically sound, that the requestor has the economical capacity to develop the project, and that the requestor is juridically able to stablish a contract with the Colombian state. During this process the ANM might require additional documentation from the requestor, who should comply. If the requestor fails to respond to a requirement by the ANM, their request will expire. If the evaluation process is successful, the requestor will be granted with the requested mining title.

The process of request

As we have mentioned before, the process of requesting a mining title should be done with great care, since it requires several documents, and there are several aspects that can cause a rejection of the request. Here, we will briefly discuss the most important documentation and information that must be prepared to file a successful mining request:

• Obtention of the environmental certificate: to start the mining title request, the requestor must prove that the requested area is not overlapping with an environmentally sensitive area, this is done with the document known as environmental certificate or “certificación ambiental”. Failing to provide this document along with the request will cause its rejection.

• Selection of the type of mining title to be requested: the requestor must specify the type of mining title that will be requested. Since this is a guide for foreigners, we will solely focus on the type of mining title known as concession contract or “contrato de concesión”.

• Definition of the requested area: the area that will be requested must be precisely defined and its shape must fit the grid system of the Colombian Mining Cadaster. This must be done with care since it is not possible to add more area to a request.

• Selected of the minerals to be requested: the minerals to be explored for and mined must be specified in the request.

• Presentation of the minimum exploration program: the requestor must present which exploration activities will be done in the requested mining title, according to Colombian mining law, and depending on the minerals that were requested, some exploration activities are mandatory. The minimum exploration program is presented trough the filling of the A-Form or “Formato A”.

• Presentation of documentation pertaining to the requestor: Along with the request, the requestor must present the documents that identify them. If the requestor is a foreign individual, the documents that explain their immigration status should be presented. If the requestor is a foreign company the documentation that proves the existence of a properly registered succursal must be presented.

The process of requesting a mining title in Colombia is a very delicate one, since any mistake will cause a great loss of money, time and effort. In GEOLANEL S.A.S. we are expert in the developing of mining projects in Colombia, feel free to contact us if you are interested in mining in our country, we will be your best ally in this venture.