The National Mining Agency – ANM, released on Thursday (15), through the Portal System of Public Offering and Auction of Areas – SOPLE, the Notice of the 6th Round of availability of areas for Artisanal Mining Permit with social evaluation.
Classified as a “mining territorial ordering action”, the sixth round “aims at the regularization and formalization of mineral extraction in conflict areas, making possible the mineral exploitation work according to the legislation after the concession of the title by ANM, which happens after the granting of the environmental license and the necessary authorizations and consents for its validity”.
The agency also informs that, with the process, it will “identify and inspect real players in the mineral sector in these areas, with CPF, CNPJ, technical norms to be followed and plans”.
The public notice was the subject of a public hearing, on June 10, in which the ANM presented the tie-breaker criteria with a social character in the dispute for the areas. Throughout this article, we will underline some relevant criteria of the public notice.
The procedure for DIPPONIBILITY OF AREAS will observe the schedule as described in Table 1 of the public notice.
Schedule for the 6th Round of availability of areas for PLG – Table 1
Access to Dataroom
Some existing documents, extracted from the mining process for each of the areas and other information, will be available for merely informational consultation by digital means, at the electronic addresses “Digitized Documents” and “Mining Cadastre“, from the date of publication of this Tender Protocol.
In case of divergence between the data contained in the Mining Register or the Digitized Documents in relation to the physical records of the mining process, the information contained in the latter will prevail.
The physical records of the mining processes listed in the ANNEX of this Tender Protocol are available for consultation by any interested party at the ANM units where they are located, under the terms of art. 30 of the DNPM Normative Consolidation, approved by Ordinance DNPM no. 155, of May 12, 2016.3.
“Art. 30 – The interested parties referred to in §§ 1 and 2 of art. 28 must protocol the request to obtain a view or reprographic copies at the location where the process is located, attaching supporting documentation.”
“§ 1 It will be up to the ANM Director General, Superintendents and Regional Managers, depending on the sector in which the case records are located, to decide on the request for a view and/or reprographic copies in view of the documents presented by the applicant.”
Participations
In accordance with the Final Tender Protocol, the following may participate in the AREA AVAILABILITY procedure:
(a) Garimpeiro natural person: in areas up to 50 ha (fifty hectares), due to the limitation imposed by the legislation, hereinafter identified as “Participant Garimpeiro”. The condition of Garimpeiro is self-declaratory and participants are responsible for its veracity. Verification of the information provided will be made during the review of the application.
- b) A properly constituted Cooperative of Miners, with a minimum of 20 (twenty) members, registered with the Organization of Cooperatives of Brazil (OCB) and, if not registered, that provides proof of registration within 90 (ninety) days after the filing of the Request for a Mining Permit with the ANM, hereinafter identified as the “Participating Cooperative”.
Is barred from participating, directly or indirectly, in any phase of this AREAS DISPONIBILITY procedure:
- ANM employee, member of the CED, Regional Manager, Superintendent or member of the ANM’s Collegiate Board of Directors;
- Individual who is related by blood or kinship up to the third degree to any officer (members of the Collegiate Directorate, Superintendents and Regional Managers) or member of the CED or any individual or legal entity that exercises or may exercise, in any way, significant influence over an ANM’s employee or officer or member of the CED or vice-versa;
- Any person that has been convicted, by final and unappealable judgment, to the penalty of interdiction of rights due to the practice of environmental crimes, as provided in art. 10 of Law No. 9.605, dated February 12, 1998;
- Legal entity in bankruptcy or extrajudicial recovery process without a recovery plan judicially homologated, in dissolution or in liquidation; and
- Individuals who have had their insolvency declared.
Participating in this AREA AVAILABILITY procedure, the Participant warrants and declares that:
- does not fit into any of the situations described in the items above;
- that it has the technical capacity to carry out the actions described in the Tender Protocol; and
- if declared the winner, will meet, when submitting the application, all the requirements and constitutional, legal and regulatory conditions to obtain the title of Mining Permit.
Participation in this procedure implies full and irrevocable acceptance, by the Participant, of all the terms and conditions contained in this Announcement, as well as compliance with the legal and regulatory provisions in force, and responsibility for the accuracy of the information and documents presented at any stage of this procedure.
“The Individual Garimpeiro who conquers area in this Edital will not be able to apply for new mining permits before the ANM if he does not give up or renounce the area he previously held.”
“The conquest of the area in this procedure will give rise to the right of priority in the application for mining permission for a given area, which must undergo environmental licensing, consents, authorizations and necessary sciences, under the terms of the current legislation.”
It is forbidden for the same individual to register expressions of interest in the Prior Public Offering representing different legal entities (e-CNPJ), relative to the same Area.
Participation in this AREA AVAILABILITY procedure will occur exclusively through the Portal SOPLE – Modalidade Avaliação Social.
PRELIMINARY PUBLIC OFFERING
The Prior Public Offering corresponds to the first stage of the AVAILABILITY OF AREAS procedure, in which the Participants shall express their interest for the Area(s), pursuant to Article 46 of Decree No. 9,406, 2018. Being protected by confidentiality, in order to safeguard the quantity and identity of the Participants under § 1 of art. 46 of Decree No. 9,406, 2018.
The expression of interest must occur exclusively through the SOPLE Portal – in accordance with the guidelines and rules on its use, within 60 (sixty) days from the date of opening of the Prior Public Offering, as per Table 1 of this Tender Protocol.
The “Participating Garimpeiro” may express interest in up to three areas of up to 50 ha (fifty hectares), but may only request one PLG.
The “Participating Cooperative” may express interest in areas whose sum of applications results in 20,000 hectares (twenty thousand hectares) in the public offer phase, respecting the restrictions of the Social Evaluation phase (item 9 of the Final Tender Protocol).
Once the period for expressing interest is closed (closing of the Preliminary Public Offering), the ANM will adopt, pursuant to § 2 of art. 4 of ANM Resolution 24/2020, the following procedures for each of the Areas:
- In the event that no expression of interest has been submitted for a given area, the area will be considered free as of the business day following the date of approval of the final results, and the Social Assessment for that area will not be required;
- In the event that only one expression of interest has been presented for a given Area, the Participant will be notified, on the date indicated in Table 1 of this Announcement, by means of a public publication on the SOPLE Portal – Social Assessment Mode (sople.anm.gov.br), to register his or her mining Law application within the timeframe indicated in Table 1 of this Announcement, and the Social Assessment for that Area will be dispensed with;
- if there is more than one expression of interest for a given Area, this Area will be submitted to a Social Evaluation, in which only the Participants that expressed interest for the respective Area in the Preliminary Public Offering stage will participate.
The result of the Previous Public Offering will be disclosed on the date indicated in Table 1 of the Announcement through the SOPLE Portal – Social Assessment Mode (sople.anm.gov.br), with the indication of the Participants contemplated identified by name and partial enrollment number in the CPF or CNPJ, respecting the restrictions of confidentiality imposed by the general Law of Protection of Personal Data (LGPD).
SOCIAL EVALUATION – PHASE1: TIE-BREAKING CRITERIA
The Social Assessment corresponds to the second stage of the AVAILABILITY OF AREAS procedure, applicable only to those Areas that were the subject of more than one expression of interest during the Prior Public Offering stage.
Only the Participant that has validly expressed interest in the respective Area during the Preliminary Public Offering stage may participate in the Social Assessment.
The criteria for Social Assessment are the following:
For Participant Cooperatives:
- Regionalization (Municipality of incorporation and of the members);
- Cooperative members (Number in the Cooperative Members List);
- Active Cooperative with earliest registration date at the commercial registry (With approval of the Cooperative’s bylaws at the Commercial Registry (Junta Comercial));
- Operation (if the Cooperative already has operation);
- Agreement with the superficiary;
For Participating Garimpeiros:
- Regionalization (Municipality of domicile);
- Age of garimpeiro (years);
- Agreement with superficiaries;
The criteria presented will be evaluated through the information given by the interested parties themselves when expressing interest in the public offer of areas, at which time the information must be filled out in accordance with the official documents already registered and approved by the competent public agencies on the date of registration of the manifestation.
The criteria will be valued by points, which will be evaluated as follows:
For Participating Cooperatives:
Address of the Cooperative’s head office:
Note: according to official IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) maps in effect on the date of publication of the Edital.
Number of Cooperative Members:
Previous registration of the Cooperative at the Board of Trade:
Existence of operation by the Participating Cooperative: It is the existence of a PLG approved in the DOU by the ANM and in operation, as proven in the Annual Mining Report.
Possession, ownership or agreement with the area’s superficiary.
Considering that the mining permit regime is closely linked to the publication of the environmental license for its granting, it is of fundamental importance, especially to meet the objective of the public notice, which is to seek the regularization of previously occupied areas that already have a prior agreement, since this is an essential document for the entry of the environmental licensing request, provides greater speed in the process and proves the prior relationship of the occupant with the superficiary.
For individual miners:
Address:
Note: According to official IBG (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) maps in effect on the date of publication of the public notice.
Age of the miner. Measured in Years
Possession, ownership or agreement with the area’s superficiary.
Considering that the mining permit regime is closely linked to the publication of the environmental license for its granting, it is of fundamental importance, especially to meet the objective of the public notice, which is to seek the regularization of previously occupied areas that already have a prior agreement, since this is an essential document for the entry of the environmental licensing request, provides greater speed in the process and proves the prior relationship of the occupant with the superficiary.
PHASE 2: FINAL CHOICE (FOR MINING COOPERATIVES)
The Cooperative may register interest in areas the sum of which is up to 20,000 ha (twenty thousand hectares).
The Cooperative may not register interest in more than 25 (twenty-five) areas.
The winner will be declared the Participant that obtains, at the end of the Social Evaluation, the highest number of points in its favor in the valuation made by the objective weight criteria and makes the final choice within the foreseen limits.
Tie-breaking criteria:
The person who has the largest parcel of area in can or agreement with a superficiary;
If two or more Participants obtain the same score, the final classification will observe the order of precedence of the expression of interest in the public offer, at which time the information used for the Social Evaluation will also be registered, should it be necessary for the Social Evaluation to take place.
During the Social Evaluation period, SOPLE will not grant EDC, the Participants, or any other person access to any data or information on the quantity or identification of Participants.
Once the Social Assessment is concluded, the Participants will be notified of the final ranking via the SOPLE Portal – Social Assessment Mode (sople.anm.gov.br), identifying the Participants by name and CPF or CNPJ registration number.
“The Area that does not receive any proposals in this Tender Protocol will be considered free for new applications, and can be applied for under any regime for the use of mineral resources provided for in the from the working day following the date of publication in the DOU of the result ratification statement (item 10).”
APPROVAL OF THE RESULT AND AWARD OF THE CONTRACT
For the purpose of approval of the results and award of the object, the EDC will forward to the Superintendent of Mineral Planning and Availability of Areas (SOD) of ANM a report containing the description of the work done, the results of each stage and other relevant facts, if any, related to the AREA AVAILABILITY procedure (hereinafter identified as “Minutes”).
A complete copy of the Minutes will be made available on the SOPLE Portal – Social Evaluation Modality (sople.anm.gov.br) together with the results of the Social Evaluation stage, as provided in Table 1 of this Final Tender Protocol.
The extract of the act of the Superintendent of the ANM SOD that approves the result and awards the object of the AREA AVAILABILITY procedure will be published in the Diário Oficial da União and, on the same date, in the SOPLE Portal – Social Assessment Mode (sople.anm.gov.br).
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE WINNER IN THE SOCIAL EVALUATION AND
FILING OF THE MINING TITLE APPLICATION
The winning Participant is guaranteed the right to file, with priority, the PLG application for the respective areas by the deadline established in Table 1 of this Final Tender Protocol.
Make the electronic pre-application in the Mining Cadastre System (SCM) that will be filed on Protocolo Digital.
The pre-application for mining title, shall be filed exclusively through the ANM Digital Protocol (app.anm.gov.br/protocolo), and observe the applicable legislation, especially Article 201 of Ordinance No. 155/2016, which approves the ANM Normative Consolidation, as the case may be, as well as the items provided for in this announcement:
(a) Proof of effective Membership in OCB or Proof of protocol of membership in OCB, which must be completed within 90 (ninety) days after the application and proven by protocol;
(b) Agreement with the superficiary, consisting of a contractual instrument, proving the relationship, when applicable, under penalty of rejection by the ANM.
Any request for title that is presented by a third party after the deadline established in item 11.1.2 will be rejected, in the case of total interference (art. 18, § 1, of the Mining Code), or will have the area requested reduced, in the case of partial interference.
No indemnity of any kind, reparation or restitution of value will be due to any Participant or any other person in the event that the Exploration Application is denied by the ANM under applicable law.
“If the PLG application is not filed until the deadline referred to in item 11.5, the Area will be considered free as of the business day following the deadline.”
PENALTIES
If a Participant fails to comply with the obligations set forth in this Tender Protocol, the Participant will be subject to the following penalties, without prejudice to other legal actions
Failure to carry out, once declared the winner in this AREA AVAILABILITY procedure, the application arrangements within the deadlines set out in Table 1 of this Tender Protocol;
Penalty – fine, the amount of which will be no less than R$1,000.00 (one thousand Reais), as well as temporary suspension from participation in AREA AVAILABILITY procedures, for a period of no less than 2 (two) years
Engaging in an illicit act intended to frustrate the objectives of these AREA AVAILABILITY procedures, such as providing untruthful information.
Penalty – a fine in the amount of R$ 5,000.00 (five thousand Reais) and temporary suspension from participation in AREA AVAILABILITY procedures for a period of 3 (three) years.
To practice during this procedure, an act harmful to the national or foreign Public Administration provided for in Law No. 12,846, of August 1, 2013
Penalty – fine in the amount of R$ 10,000.00 (ten thousand reais); and temporary suspension of participation in procedures for DISPOSAL OF AREAS, for a period of 5 (five) years.
Apply for a second PLG without giving up the previous one
Penalty – temporary suspension from participation in AREA AVAILABILITY procedures for a period of three (3) years and rejection of the application.
The Participant is entitled to present prior and ample defense, to be received through the ANM’s Digital Protocol (app.anm.gov.br/protocolo) with the indication of the number of the administrative process related to the imposition of the penalty and instructed with the information and documents that prove the alleged reasons, within 10 (ten) working days, counted from the personal summons.
An appeal may be filed against a decision imposing a penalty within five (5) working days from the date it is published in the Federal Official Gazette, through the ANM’s Digital Protocol (app.anm.gov.br/protocolo), indicating the number of the administrative proceeding related to the imposition of the penalty and including the information and documents that prove the alleged reasons.
The proceedings for imposition of penalties will not impede or affect the regular course of this AVAILABILITY OF AREAS.
ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS
Participants may file an administrative appeal within five (5) working days from the date of publication of the Social Assessment results on the SOPLE Portal – Social Assessment Mode (sople.anm.gov.br).
“The administrative appeal must be submitted exclusively by electronic means, through the digital protocol tool of the ANM, in a proper way available at the electronic address (app.anm.gov.br/protocolo), indicating the number of the administrative process related to this AREA AVAILABILITY procedure (Processo nº48051.004530/2020-18) and instructed with the information and documents that prove the alleged reasons.”
FINAL PROVISIONS
The participation in this AVAILABILITY OF AREAS procedure or eventual declaration of winning Participant, by itself, does not authorize mineral research or mining, nor does it represent a commitment of future grant of mining title.
The Participants are responsible for the accuracy and legitimacy of the information and documents submitted at any stage of this AVAILABILITY OF AREAS procedure.
The announcement for the procedures of the 6th Round of availability of areas for Artisanal Mining Permit (Garimpo), along with the annexes of the processes listed can be accessed in full by clicking here.
Brasília, September 15, 2022
VICTOR HUGO FRONER BICCA
General Director of ANM
*This text does not replace the original published
