Auction of mining concessions for unpaid patents in Chile

The list

Before 1 July each year, the Treasurer General sends each competent court the list of concessions with unpaid patents, with name, location, owner on the roll and amount due. Anyone can ask to correct errors before the auction (art. 147). These lists appear in the Boletín Oficial de Minería.

Date and publication

The judge sets the day and hour and orders the decision and the list published on two different days. The auction cannot take place until 30 days after the last notice (art. 147).

How the auction works

Unpaid concessions under the same roll number are auctioned as one lot. The minimum is the patents owed, and a bidder must leave a guarantee for that amount (art. 148). The owner cannot bid but can pull the concession from the auction until it happens by paying double the debt (art. 149).

If it is awarded

The buyer pays the costs, proves payment of the patents and deposits the balance, which goes to the former holder (art. 150). If the price is not paid in eight days, the award falls away, the guarantee is lost and the lot is auctioned again (art. 152).

With no bidders: free ground

The judge declares the ground free and orders the entries cancelled at the Conservador de Minas (art. 155). That decision makes the concession lapse (Law 18,097 art. 18).

Free does not mean empty: other concessions in force or in process may cover the same area. Check the map and the titles before requesting the ground.

What we do not publish

Veta IQ reads the Boletín's lists. It does not read court files, so it does not report who was awarded a concession or whether the ground was declared free.