mineral resources

The mine has been suppressed. It used to take 20 working days to go through the approval process, but now the new regulations have directly cut it to 10 working days. The Ministry of Natural Resources just issued a notice on July 7, doubling the approval efficiency.

For mine owners, is speeding up approval a good thing or a bad thing? The answer is: it depends on how you use it.

Why is speedy approval important to you?

Slow approval was one of the biggest headaches for mining companies after they were suppressed in the past. An override approval process can take more than half a year or even a year. During this period, your mine cannot be developed normally, cannot be financed, cannot be transferred, and the assets have been "frozen", but compensation has not yet been received.

The approval time limit is now reduced from 20 working days to 10 working days, which means:

**It takes up to two weeks from application to result ****The pace of compensation negotiations is also accelerated accordingly****Your mineral rights assets will no longer be "stuck" for an unlimited period**

Supporting reforms behind the acceleration

Speeding up approval is not simply about shortening the time, but about optimizing a whole set of processes:

**1. Cancel review and filing prerequisite**

In the past, the overburden mineral resources assessment report had to be reviewed and filed before being submitted for approval. This step alone may take one or two months. The new regulations eliminate this link, and the assessment report can be directly used to approve applications.

**2. The query service has hard constraints**

Provincial-level natural resources authorities proactively provide coverage query services through "One Map" and provide feedback results within 5 working days. In the past, queries had no time limit, but now there are hard constraints.

**3. Land use approval will no longer review and override content**

The new regulations clarify that the content related to overburdened mineral resources will no longer be reviewed when applying for land use approval. If it involves overcrowding, just inform the management requirements when approving the construction land. This means that land use approval and overturn approval can be advanced in parallel and no longer get in the way of each other.

Mine Boss’s Practical Timeline

Suppose your mine is overwhelmed by a construction project. According to the new regulations, the timeline is roughly as follows:

**Day 1**: The construction unit submits an override inquiry on the website of the provincial natural resources authority

**5th working day**: Receive query results

**Day 6-15**: The construction unit negotiates compensation with the mining company (a third-party assessment can be jointly entrusted)

**Day 16**: The construction unit submits an application for override approval

**25th-26th working day**: Approval result comes out

Compared with the previous process, it may take 3-6 months from inquiry to approval, but now it has been reduced to about one month.

3 things you must pay attention to after speeding up

**First: Negotiation time has been compressed**

Faster approval means less time left for you to negotiate compensation. In the past, you could negotiate slowly, but now if the negotiation fails, the other party may quickly complete the approval process.

**Coping Strategy**: See a lawyer as soon as possible after receiving the suppression notice. Don’t delay. The evaluation report must be prepared as soon as possible, and the compensation plan must be prepared as soon as possible.

**Second: The evaluation link becomes more critical**

The new regulations eliminate the prerequisite for review and filing, and the assessment report is directly used for review and approval. This means that the quality of the assessment results directly determines your level of compensation.

**Coping Strategy**: Be sure to participate in the selection of the assessment agency and insist on joint entrustment. Do not accept the evaluation agency that the other party seeks unilaterally. After the evaluation report comes out, read every data item carefully and ask any questions immediately.

**Third: The approval time limit is "working days" not "natural days"**

10 working days is almost two weeks of natural time. Don’t miscalculate the time. Prepare the evidence materials in advance.

What if the approval result is not good for you?

The new regulations clarify the approval authority and process, but if you are not satisfied with the approval results, there are still legal remedies:

**Administrative review**: Apply for review to the superior natural resources authority **Administrative litigation**: File an administrative lawsuit in court to review the legality of the approval act **Compensation disputes will be handled separately**: Approval resolves the issue of "whether it can be overridden", and the issue of how much compensation can be negotiated or litigated separately

Yingting lawyer reminds

Speeding up approval is a major efficiency improvement in the field of mineral management, which is both an opportunity and a challenge for mining companies. The opportunity is that your mineral rights assets will no longer be "frozen" indefinitely. The challenge is that you need to make the right decision in a shorter time.

It is recommended that mining enterprises establish an emergency response mechanism for overburden:

Prepare a list of mineral rights assets and investment vouchers in advance. Establish a quick response channel with a lawyer. Understand the coverage inquiry channels of the local provincial natural resources department. Have basic expectations about the compensation standards and do not passively accept the first version of the plan.

Beijing Yingting Law Firm specializes in mining rights legal services and provides mining companies with full legal support for overburden compensation.