On December 26, 2023, the National Mining Agency (NMA) informed through its web page that as the entity responsible for the integral management of mineral resources owned by the State, it will resume, as of January 1, 2024, the functions of mining authority delegated to the Antioquia Department since 2001 and which have been partially resumed since the beginning of 2023, with the issuance of resolution 104 of January 13, 2023.
The NMA also reported that through the special monitoring carried out during the last two years by two vice presidencies of the NMA to the functions delegated to the Antioquia Department, cases were evidenced in which the department did not adopt the parameters and guidelines of the national mineral authority. For this reason, the vice presidencies recommended the NMA not to extend the Interadministrative Agreement 002 of 2015, by means of which the Antioquia Department carries out the functions of contracting and mining titling and inspection, monitoring and control of mining titles located in its jurisdiction.
The NMA assures that the delegation of functions between public entities cannot be, in practice, permanent. According to the NMA’s interpretation of the Constitutional Court’s decision C-727 of 2000, the delegation between public entities is constitutional as long as specific requirements are met, among them, that the delegation does not imply a definitive distribution of competencies but a transitory collaboration exercise between entities.
As grounds for the decision and based on the jurisprudence above, the NMA points out that the delegation of faculties to the Antioquia Department has been subject to successive extensions in time, which in practice has become a permanent exercise and has meant the emptying of the faculties that correspond to the NMA.
Finally, the NMA states that to monitor and control the mining titles existing in Antioquia and prepare the adequate exercise of such functions, the NMA will strengthen the PAR Medellín, as well as suspend the terms within the administrative actions of monitoring and control for three months, extendable for another three months, clarifying that the contracting, titling, and evaluation of the mining applications will not be suspended.
Author: Angela María Salazar I asalazar@lloredacamacho.com I Natural Resources – Mining I Ana María Sandoval I asandoval@lloredacamacho.com I Natural Resources – Mining