São Paulo – Brazil’s National Mining Agency (ANM) opened on Tuesday (29) the 2nd Round of Available Areas, putting up 7,027 areas for research and exploration concessions involving a wide variety of minerals. Expressions of interest will be accepted through March 1, 2021. Applicants will be selected to pursue projects already under concession to third parties that have been returned to the ANM’s portfolio for some reason.
In May 2020, projects made available for concession were included in the Investment Partnership Program (IPP). The first batch saw 500 areas on offer for research into minerals for the construction industry, such as sand and gravel. The federal government said results exceeded expectations, and a second batch was made available including 7,000-plus areas, many of which are already under exploration.
Up until 2018, interested parties would be selected on the basis of the best technical projects. However, Decree 9,406/2018 introduced a novel selection model, under which areas must be the object of prior public biding handled by the ANM. In the event that two or more parties are interested in one area, e-auctions will be held and the highest bid wins. The auction concerning the areas put on offer this Tuesday is slated for March 8 to 15, 2021, if need be.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
