Turkey
Answer ... The main legislative and regulatory framework governing mining in Turkey consists of the Mining Law no 3213 dated 15 June 1985; and the Mining Regulation, dated 21 September 2017. The Mining Law sets forth the principles and procedures for the exploration, operation, ownership and abandonment of mines in accordance with national interests. ‘Minerals’ are described under the Mining Law as: “Any substance other than petroleum, natural gas, geothermal and water resources of natural and economic value that are naturally found in the earth's crust and water resources.” These minerals consist of five groups as further described under Article 2 of the Mining Law (see question 3.1). The Mining Regulation includes detailed provisions regarding the implementation of the Mining Law.
Some of the other secondary legislation on mining activities includes (without limitation):
- the Mining Activities Permits Regulation, dated 21 June 2005;
- the Mine Waste Regulation, dated 15 July 2015;
- the Regulation on Authorised Legal Entities, dated 3 June 2016; and
- the Regulation on the Tender of Mine Sites, dated 21 September 2017.
Turkey
Answer ... The latest major amendments to the Mining Law were introduced in February 2019, with the aim of increasing foreign and private investment in the mining industry. The amendments cover a broad range of issues, including the simplification and expedition of licensing procedures, changes in state royalty payment ratios and new incentives.
The latest revisions to the Mining Law were enacted on 26 March 2020, as a part of the legislation that consists of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to this recent revision, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (Ministry of Energy) may decide, in case of a force majeure event, that the financial obligations of mining companies are to be deferred or split into instalments; it also provides for a suspension of the statutory periods under the Mining Law. Within this context, the Ministry of Energy is authorised to announce force majeure for certain parts or regions of the country, and to identify which financial obligations cannot be carried out due to force majeure.
Following the above amendment to the Mining Law, an announcement was published on the website of the General Directorate of Mining and Petroleum Affairs (GDMPA) on the measures taken by the Ministry of Energy regarding the COVID-19 situation. The announcement affirms that a state of force majeure has been declared between 1 April 2020 and 30 June 2020 (inclusive) in accordance with Annex 19 of the Mining Law, amended by the Law no 7226, for mining licence holders and royalty holders that have been directly affected by precautions taken against the spread of COVID-19.
The measures announced by the Ministry of Energy include the following:
- Technical documents regarding operational activities in 2019, which had to be submitted by the end of April 2020 pursuant to Article 29, paragraph 4 of the Mining Law, have been postponed by three months starting from the date of the lifting of force majeure and must now be submitted by 30 September 2020.
- For every licence/licence application requiring the submission of a preliminary survey report, mineral exploration project, exploration activity report or operation project within the dates of the declared force majeure, the dates of submission and any other related requirements have been extended until 30 September 2020.
- In relation to operation licences that require, as per Article 24 of the Mining Law, the submission of an operation project, within the dates of the declared force majeure, requirements on submission of the operation project six months in advance and any other obligations under Article 24, paragraph 2 of the Mining Law shall not be applicable.
- In the event that the terms granted to licence holders for completion of any processes under the relevant articles of the Mining Law fall within the dates of the declared force majeure, such periods have been extended until 30 September 2020.
- The 2019 state royalty payments, which must ordinarily be made by licence holders by the end of June 2020 pursuant to Article 14 of the Mining Law, can now be paid until 28 December 2020.
- Licence fees that were doubled for a failure to pay within the month of January, which must ordinarily be paid by the end of June 2020, can now be paid until 28 December 2020 without cancelling the licence, on condition that double the amount is paid.
- In calculating the periods for which permits set out under Article 7 of the Mining Law were not issued in time, in the application of Article 24, paragraph 11 of the Mining Law, the entire calendar year of 2020 shall be disregarded for the period subject to the calculation of administrative fees and any long-stop dates shall not be applicable until 28 December 2020.
- In any evaluation made pursuant to Article 24, paragraph 12 of the Mining Law (which provides, under certain conditions, for the imposition of an administrative fine in case production levels are below those declared), the force majeure period shall not be taken into consideration.
Turkey
Answer ... The other legislative and regulatory provisions that are relevant for mining activities are mainly covered under the environmental and health and safety legislation. Some of the relevant laws and regulation for mining activities include:
- the Environmental Law no 2872, dated 9 August 1983;
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the Occupational Health and Safety Law no 6331, dated 20 June 2012;
- the Workplace Opening and Operation Licences Regulation, dated 10 August 2005;
- the Regulation on the Regeneration of the Lands Destroyed by Mining Activities, dated 23 January 2010;
- the Regulation on Workplace Health and Safety in Mining Workplaces, dated 19 September 2013; and
- the Regulation on Environmental Impact Assessment, dated 25 November 2014.
Turkey
Answer ... There are many bilateral agreements to which Turkey is a party relating to energy cooperation in general, and some bilateral agreements relating to cooperation between state authorities regarding the mining sector. However, there are no regional treaties relating to mining activities in particular.
Turkey
Answer ... Two major governmental bodies are responsible for the enforcement of mining laws and regulations: the Ministry of Energy and the GDMPA. Before the February 2019 amendments to the Mining Law entered into force, some administrative functions regarding the conduct of mining activities laid with various governmental bodies. As the amendments to the Mining Law introduced in February 2019 aimed to expedite the permit and licensing process under the mining legislation, these two bodies have since became the almost-exclusive governmental bodies in relation to the conduct of mining activities. While the GDMPA is the primary authority that licence holders interact with in the conduct of mining activities, the Ministry of Energy has authority over certain critical issues, such as:
- the transfer of mining licences and discoverer’s rights;
- the prioritisation of energy investments, in case the execution of several investments would conflict with each other (eg, a mining project conflicting with an oil project);
- the determination of a public interest for the expropriation of privately owned land upon request of an operation licence holder;
- the approval of share transfers which result in a change of 10% or more in the shareholding of a licence holding company;
- the conclusion of royalty agreements between licence holders and third parties (for royalty agreements as defined under the Mining Regulation); and
- the conduct of mining activities on agricultural and pasture lands.
Turkey
Answer ... The National Energy and Mining Policy of Turkey (NEMP) has been developed around three main objectives:
- promoting indigenisation;
- ensuring the security of energy supply; and
- laying the groundwork for a sustainable and foreseeable energy market.
With respect to the mining sector in particular, the NEMP aims to:
- indigenise mining technology;
- restructure Eti Maden AS (the principal state-owned mining company) to improve integration in the energy market; and
- enhance cooperation between state-owned companies, governmental bodies and private sector players.
The NEMP also aims to increase the use of raw or intermediary materials to reduce the import of minerals by concentrating on research and development to improve technological innovations. In recent years, increased incentives have been introduced for coal mining, with the aim of increasing electricity generation through coal and lignite and reducing imports of natural gas, which for years have been a burden on the trade balance of Turkey. As a result, the share of coal and lignite in electricity generation has increased by almost 10% over the last decade and coal-fired power production currently meets about 40% of Turkey’s electricity needs.
The February 2019 amendments to the Mining Law mainly aimed to increase the activity of foreign and private companies in the mining sector. This is also because minerals, especially gold, constitute an important share of Turkish exports. In 2019, export of minerals amounted to $4.3 billion.