On 23 April 2024, the Senate of the Province of Mendoza (“Province”) approved the reform of the Mining Procedures Code (MPC), incorporating international control standards to promote sustainable mining in the Province. The text indicates that it will become effective 15 days after it is published in the Official Gazette of Mendoza. The modifications grant the Province more control powers and prerogatives, as well as more influence.
The ProNDSAM (for its acronym in Spanish) was created on 3 August 2023 by the National Mining Secretariat.
The agency’s objective is to regulate and standardize the publication of mining sector information under international standards. The data will be published weekly, monthly, and in special reports.
On 13 July 2023, Resolution No. 90/2023 of the National Mining Secretariat was published, establishing the updated mining fee that considers the consumer price index published by the National Institute of Statistics and Census. The update will be carried out in December of each year and will be applicable to the value of the mining canon in the following year.
By Decree No. 57/2023 issued on 3 February 2023, the National Executive Power cancelled the 5% export refund on exports of lithium, lithium oxide and hydroxide, lithium chloride and lithium carbonate produced in the provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy and Salta.
On 17 January 2023, the governor of the Province of La Rioja enacted Law No. 10,608, declaring the study, research, prospecting, exploration, exploitation and industrialization of lithium and its derivatives to be of public interest. The Law undertook the following measures: (i) suspended existing mining permits and concessions related to this resource for 120 days with a possible extension for the same period, with the plan to determine areas of interest; (ii) established the participation of the provincial company in all lithium-related projects; and (iii) established a preference right for provincial state-owned companies in the application for mining rights.
On 1 December 2022, mining canons were increased through the enactment of the General Budget Law of the National Administration for 2023, specifically by the amendment of articles 31, 213, 215, 219 and 221 of the Mining Code. These canons had not been modified since 2014.
It is also established that the canons will no longer be adjusted by law but by resolution of the Secretary of Energy based on the inter-annual variation of the Consumer Price Index.
The legislatures of Salta, Catamarca and Jujuy, by Law Nº 8.289, Law Nº 5.756 and Law Nº 6.278, respectively, ratified the Interprovincial Treaty for the Creation of the Lithium Mining Region, which had been signed in October 2021.