Mining the future
Change to mining laws seek to free up more resources for valueadded production
Anew law focusing on regulations in energy - primarily mining – has been submitted to the Speaker’s Office with the signatures of AK Party deputies. AK Party Deputy Chairman Mehmet Mus said in a statement that the aim is to develop mining activities in Turkey and keep the added value derived from mining inside the country. One of the key items in the 51-item proposal is the end product incentive which will eliminate the 50 to 75 percent government shares in extracted raw materials like iron, chrome, copper, zinc, nickel, lead and aluminum if companies turn those materials into products and bulk products on site. State rights in the production of precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum will also be reduced to 25 percent. These decreases in state rights will, however, be balanced out by an increase of approximately TRY 100 million in the taxes applied to extracted resources compared to 2017.
The proposal, which will be on the parliament’s agenda in the new year, following the 2019 budget debates, authorizes the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) to establish a company subject to private laws in order to open up more international market opportunities.
In the proposal, mining regulations are summarized as follows:
►All license fees will be deposited every year by the end of January. In the event that the license fee is not deposited on time, the unpaid amount will be each year until the last day of June, otherwise the license will be canceled.
►To reduce environmental impacts, if there is waste within 20 km of a project, it will be considered as part of the project.
►Requests for extension of licenses shall be submitted no later than six months before the expiry date of the license. Otherwise, the license period will not be extended and these areas will be licensed to others via tenders. The duration of the operation license for sand gravel mines will be five years. The operating license period of other mines will be determined according to the project, but will not be less than ten years.
►The total operating license period, including extensions, will be determined by the General Directorate of Mining Affairs for 30 years for sand gravel, brick, tile and cement clay, 40 years for second group mines and 50 years for other group mines. The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources will be authorized to extend the license from 30 years to 60 years in the first group of mines and 40 years to 80 years in the second group of mines. For other mines the President will be authorized for the extension of the period from 50 years to 99 years.
►If the total amount of production in any three years of a five-year period is less than 30 percent of the annual production amount declared in the project, an administrative fine of TRY 77,632 will be applied to the license holders.