Availability of Areas is an ANM procedure that aims to select interested parties to proceed with mining projects that had already been granted to third parties, but returned to the ANM portfolio for some reason, such as rejection of application, expiration of title, abandonment of the deposit or mine, withdrawal and relinquishment of the mining right.
Until 2018, the choice of interested parties occurred according to the best technical project. Decree No. 9,406, dated June 12, 2018, introduced a new selection model, subsequently disciplined by Resolution No. 24, dated February 3, 2020, of ANM’s Collegiate Board of Directors.
In the new model, availability is now carried out in regular rounds, in which numerous areas are offered simultaneously. Each availability round is composed of two successive stages.
The availability is carried out in regular rounds, in which numerous areas are offered, and is composed of two stages – Preliminary Public Offering and Electronic Auction. Informs the ANM.
In the Preliminary Public Offering stage, interested parties must express, within 60 days, their interest for one or more areas or blocks of areas offered in the Tender Protocol. The expression of interest must occur electronically and will be protected by confidentiality in order to safeguard the quantity and identity of the interested parties.
The objective of this stage is to evaluate the potential attractiveness, for purposes of electronic auction, of each of the areas or blocks of areas offered. At the end of the deadline, the following procedures will be adopted:
(a) the areas or blocks of areas that do not receive any expression of interest will be considered free for new mining title applications as of the business day following the end of the deadline, with the need for an electronic auction waived;
(b) the areas or blocks of areas which receive only one expression of interest may be the object of a mining title application by the author of the expression of interest, within 30 days of receipt of the notification, waiving the need for an electronic auction; and
(c) the areas or blocks of areas that receive more than one expression of interest will be submitted to electronic auction, in which only those who have expressed interest for the respective area(s) or block(s) of areas will participate.
The subsequent stage, called the Electronic Auction, shall be applicable only to the areas or blocks of areas that have received more than one expression of interest during the Preliminary Public Offering stage. At this stage, those who have expressed interest may present a proposal for the respective area(s) or block(s) of areas, and the winner will be the one presenting the proposal with the highest financial value for each area or block of areas.
In case an area/block has the manifestation of more than one interested party, then, the electronic auction stage follows, which consists of the interested parties presenting a proposal for the respective area(s) or block(s) of areas, the winner being considered the one who presents the proposal with the highest financial value for each area or block of areas.
System of Public Offering and Electronic Auction – SOPLE
The participation of the interested party in the dispute for an area or block of areas made available will be carried out exclusively on an electronic platform maintained by the ANM, called System of Public Offering and Electronic Auction (Portal SOPLE). During the procedure for availability of areas, no document, plan or technical project will be required to be presented by the participants and analyzed by the ANM.
The technical documentation must be submitted to the ANM by the winning or successful participant only after the end of the second stage of the procedure.
It is estimated that conducting the entire selection process by means of regular rounds, in an electronic environment and without submission and analysis of documents, as well as defining the winning participant according to totally objective criteria (such as the highest bid value), will bring the following immediate benefits:
- Reduction of financial costs for participants and ANM;
- elimination of bureaucratic obstacles;
- more celerity until the process is concluded;
- reduction of administrative appeals and of the judicialization rate;
- greater predictability, hygiene, clarity, and legal security to the selection process, especially as to the judgment of the winning bidder;
- collection of public revenue.
7th Round – Closing of Preliminary Public Offering approaches
The 7th Round of Availability of Areas of the Notice Public 02/2022 is in progress, with a total of 4,564 areas being offered, with 4,142 areas for Authorization for Exploration and 422 for Request for Mining.
Those interested in making the Preliminary Public Offering have until February 13, 2023 – 11:59 pm to express interest, according to the normative parameters of item 8.3 of the notice public 02/2022.
If you have any questions or need more information, please contact our office.
Source: National Mining Agency
