:: Aspecto Legal ::
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la Secretaría podrá reducir los montos mínimos de la inversión por realizar o del valor de los productos minerales por obtener, o conceder prórrogas para su cumplimiento. Para tal fin, publicará en el Diario Oficial de la Federación el acuerdo por el que se precisarán los requisitos necesarios para acogerse al mismo, las sustancias y tipos de yacimientos afectados, las cotizaciones con base en las cuales surtirá efecto y su vigencia. Derivado de lo anterior y tomando en cuenta el ciclo de baja de precios en los minerales, la dificultad que esto podría acarrear para el cumplimiento de las obligaciones de los concesionarios mineros, y toda vez que se trata de una disposición de reciente aplicación, habrá que estar muy atentos al criterio de la autoridad para cumplir en tiempo con las obligaciones que la regulación aplicable establece y evitar, en su caso, inicios de procedimientos de cancelación y el pago del derecho adicional establecido en la Ley Federal de Derechos que generen mayores cargas para la industria.
In May each year, investment reports for the implementation and verification of works must be submitted, in accordance to Articles 27, 28, 29 and 30 of the Mining Act, as well as Articles 62, 63, 64, 65 and 66 of its Regulations. The aforementioned items, in addition to mining, concessionaries are compulsory to submit report to verify the execution of mining works, establish minimum amounts that must be met in the corresponding investments and upgrades that the authority must annually make. This year is special with respect to reporting and verification of investment, each time the Regulations of the Mining Law is upgraded (October 12, 2012) and the reform of the Federal Law is updated, establishes among others, the amount of investment and additional duties. The importance for the sector during this period is that the non-submission of audit investment reports could be considered a default on the obligations of the mining concessions in accordance with Articles 42 and 55 of the Mining Law, which is considered cause for cancelation by Article 55 which states: Article 55.- Any of the following offenses will be sanctioned by the cancellation of the mining concession: II. Not execution and prove the works provided by this Act under the terms and conditions established by it and its regulations; But such penalty is not the only thing that could worry the sector because the reform to the Federal Law in Article 269 thereof states: Article 269.- Holders of mining concessions that do not carry out works and exploration or exploitation duly verified in accordance with the Mining Law for two consecutive years within the first eleven years of existence, starting from the date of the issuance of its respective mining concession title, will semiannually pay the additional right 50% over the quota indicated on Section VI or Article 263 of this Act.
In the case of holders whose concessions are in the twelfth year and thereafter, but not on works and exploration and exploitation for two continues years, payment of rights should be 100% of the quota indicated in Section VI of Article 263 previously mentioned by hectare. Payment of the rights referred to in this Article shall terminate when certified by the mining authority and the completion of works and exploration or exploitation for two continuous years… Based on the aforementioned article, a first systematic interpretation of the Mining Act, its Regulations and the Federal Law could be also the start of concession cancellation procedures, and one must pay the additional mention right. However, the Mining Act gives two possibilities in this regard in Articles 21 and 32, which states: Article 31.- Works execution should be temporarily suspended provided by this Act once accredited by the Secretariat, at annual audit time, or it its completion was impossible due to economic technical reasons, labor, judicial or force majeure. The temporary suspension for technical and economic reasons may be credited only once for up to three years, within a period of ten years. Article 32.- When the price or demand of a mineral suffers declines that cause temporary unprofitability in a widespread way, the Secretariat may reduce the minimum amount of investment made or the valued of mineral products to obtain, or grant extensions for compliance. To this end, a required agreement to avail themselves, substances and types of deposits affected, contributions with bases on which it takes effect and it timeframe will be published at the Federal Official Journal. Derived from the above and taking into account the cycle of minerals falling prices, the difficulty that this could lead to is the fulfillment of obligations of mining concessions, and we must be very attentive to the authority discretion to comply with applicable obligations times to prevent, if any, early cancellation procedures and payment of additional fees established by Federal Law that generates greater burdens for the industry. Contacto: miguel.romero@cgctax.com