| | On 3 November 2011, the national government created the National Mining Agency (hereinafter “ANM”) through the issuance of Decree 4134, while exercising the special powers conferred by Article 18 of Law 1444 of 2011.
The nature of the ANM is that of a special state agency, of the decentralized sector of the executive branch, with legal personality, its own patrimony and administrative, technical and financial autonomy. Under the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the ANM will be domiciled in the city of Bogotá, but with the possibility of creating other agencies or units throughout the country. The purpose of the ANM is the comprehensive management of mineral resources owned by the State as well as the promotion of optimal and sustainable use of mineral resources, in coordination with the environmental authorities.
To this purpose the functions of the ANM include: - The management the mineral resources of the state and the granting of exploration and exploitation rights.
- The promotion, execution, management and tracking of concession agreements and other mining rights for the exploration and exploitation of state-owned minerals.
- The design, implementation, and dissemination of strategies to promote mineral exploration and exploitation.
- Providing support to the Ministry of Mines and Energy in the formulation of governmental policies related to the development of plans for the mining sector, within the framework of sustainable economic, social and environmental mining.
- The management of the mining cadastre and the national mining registry.
- The liquidation, collection, management and transfer of royalties.
- The promotion and integration of mining in the territorial organization plans (“planes de ordenamiento territorial”).
- roviding support to the processes of prior consultation with ethnic groups in coordination with the competent authorities.
Within the management bodies, ANM will have a Chairperson, who shall be appointed by the Head of Government and a Board of Directors, which shall consist of: the Minister of Mines and Energy, who will preside, the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Director of the National Planning Department, the Director of the Colombian Geological Survey, the Director of Mining and Energy Planning Unit and two representatives appointed by the President of the Republic.
For purposes of replacing the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mining, as well as the delegated secretaries in their functions, the decree 4134 provides for a transitional period of six months, in which the President of the ANM will advance in the necessary administrative measure to fulfill their duties under the decree. After six months, the Ministry of Mines and Energy will designate the ANM as the only delegatee in mining matters.
Finally, in relation to applications of current concession contracts, decree 4134 omits any reference and therefore, it is unknown what is to be the fate of these administrative proceedings. Nevertheless, as stated by the Minister of Mines and Energy in previous press conferences, about 5,000 of these requests will be revoked, as the state intends to retain some areas of special geological importance and then offer them to the public through the mechanisms set forth in Article 2 of Law 1382 of 2010.
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