Applying for the first mining permit
Source: BUS Rheinland-PfalzIn order to explore for one or more mineral resources, you or your company must apply for a mining permit. You can submit this application to the responsible mining authority. There are 3 types of mining permits:
- Permit for commercial purposes: exclusive right to discover deposits and determine their extent
- Permit for scientific purposes: exclusively for research purposes
- Permission for large-scale exploration to determine the characteristics of possible deposits.
With a commercial exploration permit under mining law, also known as a commercial permit, you are the only person permitted to explore the raw material(s) in a defined area and for a defined period of time. This is an exclusive right. However, this only applies to commercial permits.
In contrast to this, scientific and large-scale exploration permits can also be granted on a superimposed basis, as they do not have the objective of exploring for a non-mining mineral resource and extracting or producing it for economic purposes.
In order to obtain an exploration permit, you must submit an application to the responsible mining authority. This must include
- the exact description of the type of exploration, i.e. commercial, scientific or large-scale exploration,
- the name of the non-mining mineral resource or resources to be explored,
- a work program and
- proof of financial viability.
The contents depend on the type of exploration permit: commercial, scientific or large-scale.
In particular, the work program should demonstrate that the planned exploration work is sufficient in terms of type, scope and purpose and will be carried out within a reasonable period of time. This means that you as the applicant must be in a position, both in terms of personnel and finances, to be able to explore the area applied for sufficiently and sensibly.
The work program for a commercial permit with a term of 3 years could, for example, include the following planned activities:
- Research for underground information and its evaluation
- Implementation of exploration measures not subject to an operating plan (e.g. overflights, mapping)
- Preparation/implementation of exploration measures subject to an operating plan (e.g. seismic measurement campaigns)
- Submission of a preliminary environmental impact assessment
The exploration permit does not allow you to implement any technical measures, such as drilling or seismic surveys. The permit merely represents a legal title to explore mineral resources in the permit field granted to you. With regard to the commercial exploration permit, you are assigned a fundamental and exclusive right. This means that a commercial permit for a specific mineral resource cannot be covered by another commercial permit for the same mineral resource at the same surface location.
Exceptions to this exclusivity are scientific and large-scale exploration of non-mining mineral resources, as the exploration objective is different here.
If you wish to carry out technical exploration work, you must submit further applications, for example for the approval of operating plans, to the competent authority. Only once these have been approved by the competent mining authority may you carry out such mining activities.
The permit under mining law extends to so-called non-mining mineral resources that are of particular economic importance. These include energy resources such as hard coal and lignite or crude oil and natural gas, as well as precious and non-ferrous metals and salts. The area covered by the permit is limited to the earth's surface and theoretically extends to the center of the earth.
The area to which the permit relates is limited to the earth's surface and theoretically extends to the center of the earth. This does not apply to geothermal energy. Geothermal energy is only a non-mineable resource from a depth of 400 meters below ground level.