No ‘Task, Two Persons’ in Mineral Resource Management

The law project was discussed in groups and in the hall at the 7th session of the National Assembly, with 77 turns of NA deputies speaking in groups and 19 turns of NA deputies speaking in the hall. The majority of opinions agreed with the necessity of building and promulgating the law and basically agreed with the structure and much of the content of the draft law. The current draft law is structured with 12 chapters and 117 articles.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested that the delegates focus their discussions and thoroughly exchange views on scientific, practical, and management issues to preserve and protect mineral resources and ensure high consensus.

Overcoming difficulties and obstacles in practice

In that spirit, at the meeting, leaders and representatives of the functional ministries and sectors focused their discussions on the major contents of the law project that still had differing opinions, including the scope of the law’s adjustment; mineral classification; mineral planning; adjustment of mineral planning; mineral reserve evaluation council; mineral exploitation right auction; non-auction areas of mineral exploitation right auction; basic geological survey…

Regarding the specific contents that need to be absorbed and perfected in the law project, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Quy Kien thought that there should be a more scientific approach to the issues of responsibility for mineral planning; the scope related to auction and non-auction areas of mineral exploitation rights; overlapping of mineral planning with other plans… From there, it is possible to determine more closely the scope of adjustment, ensuring the feasibility and unity of the law project.

Specifically, the National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC) suggested that the draft propose two options for the responsibility for making mineral plans and analyze the pros and cons of each option to seek the opinions of NA deputies: Assigning the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to make the Mineral Plan or assigning the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Construction to make the Mineral Plan.

Regarding the adjustment of the mineral plan, the draft law has stipulated cases where the plan does not need to be adjusted and cases where the plan must be adjusted in a simplified manner and in accordance with the provisions of the law on minerals.

Absorbing the opinions of the NASC, the drafting agency has stipulated that the National Mineral Reserve Appraisal Council recognizes the results of mineral exploration within the competence of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to grant licenses, with the participation of scientists and managers with in-depth expertise in the field of geology and minerals. This is an agency that has been formed for many years and operates independently of the state management agencies in the mineral resources sector.

Notably, regarding the proposal to overcome difficulties and obstacles in the practical mineral planning in Binh Phuoc and Dak Nong (as mentioned by some delegations and NA deputies at the 7th session), the representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment informed that there are some problems in practice, such as overlapping between mineral planning and other plans affecting socio-economic development within the mineral planning area; multi-purpose land use; partial mine closure and quick handover of mined-out areas to localities for use; granting of mineral exploitation licenses for common construction materials and filling in the planned mineral area; mineral recovery during the construction of works and projects located in the planned exploration and exploitation area…

Regarding Article 5 on “principles of basic geological survey, geological survey of minerals and mineral activities”; Article 10 on “prohibited acts”, Article 28 on “mineral activity areas, mineral planning”, Deputy Director of the Forest Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) Phan Thi Thanh Hang suggested that it is necessary to continue reviewing and ensuring that there is no overlap and contradiction within these articles and in correlation with other current legal provisions related to the management of various types of resources.

At the meeting, leaders and representatives of the Ministries of Finance, Industry and Trade, Construction, and Planning and Investment exchanged and analyzed more clearly the issues related to regulations on: Methods of determination, modes of collection, and settlement of mineral exploitation right fees; principles for determining the reimbursement of costs for state-invested mineral potential assessment and exploration; along with many other important contents on financial geology, minerals, and mineral exploitation right auctions; planning and adjustment of mineral planning; geological, mineral, and mining industry strategy; mineral processing…

Arranging sufficient budget for exploration and evaluation of large and strategic mineral reserves

Concluding the working session, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha suggested that the drafting agency should absorb the opinions of relevant ministries and sectors to supplement and perfect the law project, while paying great attention to referring to and learning from international experiences, especially from advanced countries in the world, in the management of resources and minerals, following the principle of “clear management and user responsibilities”, avoiding “one job, two people”, and “not stipulating rigidly the issues and contents under the competence of the Government such as organizational apparatus, budget…

“The law should have provisions on the procedure for adjusting the geological and mineral planning in a streamlined manner thanks to scientific and technological advances that improve investment efficiency and environmental protection, in line with the trend of the times… but do not change the goals, scale, and implementation process of the planning,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

In addition, the law must provide mechanisms and policies for allocating and arranging budgets for the exploration, investigation, and evaluation of reserves of minerals with large reserves and strategic importance in serving socio-economic development, ensuring consistency with specialized laws on investment, budget…

The Deputy Prime Minister also gave specific directions to the drafting agency of the law project on criteria for cases where mineral exploitation rights must be auctioned and not auctioned; handling and resolving overlaps in mineral planning with other plans; using waste rocks and soil from mining activities as filling materials; prohibited acts…

“The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment closely coordinates, absorbs, and fully explains the opinions of the ministries, sectors, localities, and experts, focusing on perfecting the law project, ensuring that the law project is truly intellectual and qualitative, and when submitted to the National Assembly, the law project must achieve a high consensus,” said Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha.