The Collegiate Board of the National Mining Agency (ANM) unanimously approved a regulatory amendment that brings a direct impact on the operational and financial planning of mining companies: from now on, the issuance of new Experimental Mining Licenses (GUs) is strictly conditioned upon the prior presentation of an environmental license.
The decision reverses the understanding of a 2020 resolution, which had decoupled the need for the license to obtain the document from the agency. The objective, according to the ANM, is to correct market distortions and restore the original purpose of the Experimental Mining License.
What changes in practice for the mining company?
For companies intending to carry out temporary mineral exploitation (prior to the granting of the definitive Development Concession), the regulatory workflow becomes integrated once again. The new rules establish strict criteria for licensing validation:
- Titleholder Linkage: The environmental license (or equivalent document) must mandatorily be issued in the name of the mining right titleholder.
- Substance Specificity: The environmental document must explicitly mention the mineral substances to be included in the exploitation.
- Restored Exceptional Nature: The Experimental Mining License is treated once again under its original legal nature: an exceptional and revocable instrument, rather than a prolonged substitute for a Development Concession.
The Reason for the Turnaround
According to the survey reported by the ANM, in recent years a disproportionate growth in requests for Experimental Mining Licenses was registered. By allowing the commencement of exploitation prior to an in-depth analysis of the definitive Plan of Economic Exploitation, GUs began to be used by part of the market to postpone the concession process.
The agency highlighted that this regulatory vulnerability was the target of compliance audits by external control bodies. Within the scope of Technical Note No. 1261/2026/ANM, the ANM identified the need to curb the indiscriminate use of the mechanism, ensuring that anticipated exploitation only occurs under strict environmental and sector control.
The regulatory amendment explicitly states the conditioning of the issuance of new Experimental Mining Licenses. Therefore, the impact is divided exactly as follows:
- Those who are yet to apply: Will have to file the request with the Environmental Preliminary License already in hand.
- Those with a process in progress (under analysis): Even if the request was filed before the new rule, if the ANM has not yet issued the license, it is possible that the process will be halted and the presentation of the license will be required for the document to be signed.
And what about those who already have an issued and active Experimental Mining License?
For those who already hold the license and are operating, nothing changes immediately. The right to temporary exploitation remains guaranteed until the expiration date of the current document, respecting the principles of a perfect legal act and legal certainty.
But, if the mining company needs to extend an already active Experimental Mining License, the extension request is considered a new analysis by the ANM. Therefore, at the time of renewing the term, the agency will begin to require the environmental license based on the new rule.
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