Government increases mining activity rates, some by 2,000% – Carta

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Government increases mining activity rates, some by 2,000% – Carta

11:03 CAT | 04 Jul 2022

Image: Carta

The government has drastically increased the cost of various licensing fees and permits for mining activities, some by as much as 2,000%. The objective is clearly to collect much more revenue from the extractive industry, the sector that contributes most to the country’s economy.

The Ministries of Mineral Resources and Energy and of Economy and Finance determined, in Ministerial Diploma nº: 65/2022, published on 15 June of this year in the Boletim da República, to update the rates relating to the processing of mining titles and authorizations, established in Decree nº: 31/2015, of 31 December, which approves the Mining Law Regulation.

From the Diploma, to which ‘Carta’ has had access, it appears that the increase in licensing and authorization fees for mining activities varies from nought to 2,000%. Of the various fees, the highlight goes to the Mining Concession fee (within the scope of Title Transmission and/or Expansion of Mining Area) which now costs 6.4 million Meticais against the previous 300,000 Meticais

In turn, the Prospecting and Research Licence fee (in the context of expanding the area) is now set at 1.9 million Meticais against the previous 200,000 Meticais. The Mining Certificate (in the scope of Area Expansion) now costs one million Meticais, against the previous 100,000 Meticais.

The new chart of fees for mining activities also shows moderate increases, up to 900%. This is the case of the Application Registration fee and the Title Issuance fee (under the Mining Processing Licence) which rise from 10,000 and 15,000 Meticais to 100,000 and 150,000 Meticais respectively.

Also in the context of Mining Processing Licences, the fee for Late Submission of the Request for Extension and the fee for Extension cost 200,000 and 300,000 Meticais against the previous 30,000 and 60,000 Meticais, respectively.

Some rates did not increase significantly. For example, under the Prospecting and Research Licence Title, the Registration Request and Title Issuance fees are set at 50,000 Meticais each, against the previous 4,000 Meticais.

The chart also shows rates that have not changed. This is the case of the Authorization for the extraction of mineral resources for construction or for Geological Research or Scientific Studies, whose rates for Registration of the application, Issuance of title, Late Submission of the Request for Extension and Rate of Extension, continued to vary from 1,500 Meticais to 5,000 Meticais.

According to the Ministerial Diploma, the new rates came into force on April 25, 2022.

Source: Carta de Moçambique