Another thought also:

All new permits are halted while the new Ministry of Mines, boundaries, mining law...etc are being defined. They know change is coming but do not want to add any new permits until something is passed by law. A decision is made and they know what direction the mining will take thus eventually the permitting process will resume when that is established.

Thus the earlier quote from the Ministry of Environment I posted earlier.

"The Ministry of Environment will continue to deny permits to exploit
gold in the national territory to private companies while
establishing the new economic model that govern mining in the
country."