Benin - Apply for Mining Exploitation License

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Procedure

How to Apply

1. Eligible applicant should visit the Ministry of Water and Mines {MEM} General Directorate of Mines office, please view {office location and contact section below} for the address details.
2. Express your interest to the MEM receptionist/ secretariat front desk and collect all the necessary application forms and fill them accurately.
3. Submit the completed forms, attach to the supporting document file {as listed under required document section} to the MEM receptionist/ secretariat to be registered and obtain an acknowledgment slip.
4. Your application file will be forwarded to the General Directorate of Mines office for evaluation and recommendation by the component department, who carries out an investigation study on the site and the neighbouring communities.
5. The recommendations retained during the investigation will be taken into account as per the development and exploitation plan of the site, the environmental protection program and the groundwater for the rehabilitation of exploited sites.
6. The application file, the investigation study report and recommendation will be sent to the interministerial commission, who will be convened to further assess the feasibility of the requested service.
7. If the commission is satisfied that all the conditions as set for the application are met in accordance to the mining act, your application will be approved and you will be issued with the signed and certified license by the minister, against the acknowledgement slip and your identification document.
8. If it is expected that the exploitation will have exceptionally serious consequences on the environment of the local populations, the operating permit is issued, by exception, only after publicity and public investigation intended to evaluate them is implemented and the measures to be taken to eliminate them or to address their effects are determined.

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Required Documents

• A request for the allocation of the operating permit addressed to the Minister in charge of mines and indicating the following i.e.: * the mineral substance (s); * the research work program.
• A copy of the articles of association of the company whose state holds 10% of the share capital.
• A copy of the latest balance sheet, if applicable.
• A list of management members.
• Valid identification document
• A tax certificate dated less than three months.
• A feasibility studies.
• A certificate of non-bankruptcy dated less than three months.
• Proof of the technical and financial capacity of the applicant.
• A development and exploitation plan for the deposit; List of previous permits and concessions held, if applicable.
• A map of the area affected by the permit at the largest possible scale.
• A certificate of occupation of the site issued by the Mayor of the municipality concerned.
• A certificate of environmental compliance issued by the Minister in charge of the Environment.
• A receipt of payment of fixed duty payable to the Public Treasury.

NOTE:

• The file should be submitted in five (05) copies including the original copy

Office Locations & Contacts

Ministry of Water and Mines {MEM}
General Directorate of Mines
Address: ADJIBI building, Boulevard Saint Michel de Cotonou
Tel: +229 21 32 22 73
Working hours: Monday to Friday -Morning: 08h00hrs-12h30hrs

Evening: 15h00hrs-18h30hrs

Eligibility

• Any natural or legal person having the right to exercise a mineral substance exploitation activity in a given area.

Fees

• The license fee is 20,000,000 CFA franc

Validity

• The operating license is valid for twenty (20) years. It can be renewed twice for a period of ten (10) years at each time.

Documents to Use

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Sample Documents

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Processing Time

• The processing period is within two (2) months.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

Important note
NOTE

• The holder of an operating license is bound to commence the development and release work of the site within the term of the license within eighteen (18) months from the date of issuance of the license.
• The holder of an exploitation license is bound to exploit the deposits according to the rules of the art conforming as much as possible to the feasibility study, to the development and exploitation plan, to the environmental protection program and to the pathway for the rehabilitation of previously operated sites.
• Any major deviation must be obligatory for the production of supporting documents addressed to the mine manager at least one (01) month before it occurs.
• The holder of an operating license is bound to provide the mining administration with reports whose content and frequency are specified in the mining regulations.
• The existence of a valid mining license prohibits the granting of any other mining title on the license area.
• The holder of an operating license may be waived entirely or in part at any time, subject to a notice of one (01) year, if he has complied with the requirements of this law or the provisions of the mining convention.
• The waiver must, however, be accepted by the Minister of Landmine Charging under the conditions provided for by the mining regulations, if he has complied with the provisions of this Law and the Mining Convention.
• The term of the operating license must be entirely located within the research license against drift. It may, in exceptional cases, cover several research licenses belonging to the same holder, if the deposit encompasses certain parts of these licenses.
• The granting of an operating license confers on its holder the same rights and obligations for all mining substances found therein.
• The mining agreement entered into between the holder of the research license and the State cannot be adjusted prior to the granting of a joint operating license to obtain an account, if necessary, of new data specific to the exploitation of the site.
• In the event of a disagreement between the parties, the operating permit is issued without any modification to the mining agreement.

Required Information

• Full names of the applicant
• Contact details
• Residential address
• Reason for the request
• Feasibility study report
• Type of mineral you wish to mine
• Location/address of the site intended for mining
• Financial statement records
• Research work detail
• A list of management members
• A map of the area affected by the permit at the largest possible scale.

Need for the Document

• Mining Exploitation/operation license is a legal government document issued to a natural /legal person or company/business giving them the right to exercise mineral substance exploitation activity in given Area.
  

Information which might help

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Other uses of the Document/Certificate

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e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

• Benin Business Portal: Link
  

Others

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