Recently, the Ministry of Land and Resources ("MLR") has distributed the Circular on Doing Well in Relevant Work Following the Cancellation of the Record-filing-based Approval to the Evaluation of the Value for Mining Rights (the "Circular"), which becomes effective immediately and will be valid for two years.
The Circular standardizes the administrative procedures for evaluating the value for mining rights from four perspectives, including regulating the entrusted evaluation of the value for mining rights, strengthening requirements on the evaluation of the value for mining rights, intensifying the announcement of the evaluation of the value for mining rights, and clarifying the evaluation of the value for mining rights and the collection of such payment if the mining license is issued by the MLR. Also, the Circular calls for efforts to establish the benchmark price system for the value for mining rights which will be updated once every two years in principle; the benchmark price should be timely adjusted when the sales price of mineral products grows or decreases by 20 percent (inclusive) or above. Furthermore, it is made clear in the Circular that where an agency in charge of evaluating the value for mining rights fails to perform obligations specified in the evaluation contract due to its personal reasons, the competent authority of land and resources that entrusts the evaluation shall announce particulars on its failure to perform the evaluation contract on the Internet, and refuse to enter into any other commission contract for the evaluation of the value for mining rights with such agency within a year from the date of announcement.