The National Mining Agency published for comments, the draft resolution through which articles 4, 5, and 6 of resolution 352 of 2018 are modified.

The main modification introduced by the draft resolution is regarding the documents of the applicant’s parent company or shareholders to prove the applicant’s economic capacity. Therefore, the draft resolution is intended to eliminate the applicant’s possibility to prove its financial capacity by providing the financial statements of the parent or controlling company when the applicant is in a situation of subordination or control or by providing the financial statements of its shareholders.

Furthermore, the draft resolution establishes new documents that must be submitted to prove the economic capacity of legal entities, such as bank statements for the year immediately before the year of the application and the applicant’s attestation to the shareholder composition. It also provides the submission of financial statements and income tax returns for the three years before the year of application.

Although it establishes new documents, the list mentioned in the draft resolution is not exhaustive since the mining authority may request additional records and information to those mentioned in the draft regulation to verify the economic capacity of the applicant.

Finally, among other modifications, the draft resolution introduces new criteria and methodology to evaluate the economic capacity. According to the draft resolution, the formulas to calculate the financial indicators will vary depending on the stage of the mining title at the date on which such capacity is to be proved.