Reports: Government aims to reclaim 70% of idle mining concessions - Bolivia

Monday, April 21, 2008

Bolivia's government presented a bill to the country's lower house that aims to return nearly 70% of idle mining concessions to the state, local press said.

The reform has already received a positive report from the senate's economic development committee that calls for further adjustments to the law and the sector's tax structure, reports said.

Last week, the lower house approved modifications to several articles in the mining code, thus prohibiting mining concessions from being sold or being inherited by children or family members. The idea is to preserve the Bolivian state's ultimate ownership of mineral resources in the country, the reports said.

With the move, Bolivia follows Ecuador's example where the constituent assembly announced last week it plans to suspend 80% of mining concessions.

According to figures from the country's geological and technical mining bureau Sergeotecmin, Bolivia currently has 4,279 mining concessions and 5,346 grids that cover 2.5Mha of mining concessions, reports said.

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