Legal deadlines of a mining concession and when it lapses

Exploration: four years plus one extension

The concession lasts four years from the judgment constituting it. Before it expires, the holder can request a single extension of up to four years from the end of the first term (art. 112 and Law 18,097 art. 17).

To request it, within the first six months of the last year the holder must give SERNAGEOMIN a report with the geological information of the work done, or prove an environmental approval (RCA) obtained during the term or the admission of its exploration project to the SEIA. The text in force applies from 4 February 2022, so an earlier judgment or title may answer to the previous rule.

The deadlines, one by one

• Survey request: days 91 to 120 after the manifestación (art. 59 and Regulation art. 23).
• Opposition to the survey: 30 days from publication (art. 61).
• Stalled opposition case: three months with no useful step let anyone request that both parties' rights lapse. It does not affect a concession already constituted (art. 70).
• Extract of the judgment: published on the first working day of a month, before registration is requested (art. 90).
• Nullity, grounds 1 to 7 of art. 95: time-barred four years after the extract is published, and the concession is cured (art. 96).
• Patent: paid in March. The action to collect it is time-barred three years from 1 April of the year it was due (arts. 143 and 146).

When it lapses or ends

A concession lapses by the decision declaring the ground free when an auction has no bidders, and by failing to request registration in time. It also ends when the holder renounces it (Law 18,097 art. 18). The Supreme Court has said that an exploration concession lapsed by expiry ends by operation of law and cannot be revived (Rol 19262-2015).

How to read the cadastre's dates

The expiry date in SERNAGEOMIN's cadastre is for reference. It does not certify that a concession is in force or has lapsed: that is checked in the title, the registration and the case file.