Kazakhstan starts accepting applications for subsoil use under simplified procedure

Starting from November 24, Kazakhstan begins accepting applications for granting subsoil use rights under the simplified procedure for exploration, the Ministry of Investment and Development of Kazakhstan said.

The period of concluding a standard contract from the date of application will be only 25 days. Previously, this period was about two years.

Simplified procedure for granting subsoil use rights for exploration of poorly studied subsoil areas in analogy with the Australian model was introduced in Kazakhstan for the first time.

The area of the city of Stepnogorsk, which is the most promising one to identify new fields, has been defined as a pilot project for this procedure. In the future, other poorly studied areas of Kazakhstan will also be covered.

For granting subsoil use rights under the simplified procedure for the purpose of exploration, the applicant submits a request, which must comply with the requirements of the law of Kazakhstan “On Subsoil Use".

The subsoil section provided for investigation under the simplified procedure mustn't exceed 10 blocks, each of which is equal to one minute in a geographic coordinate system.

The typical condition during conclusion of the contract for exploration is to determine the minimum amount of costs within a single unit for the entire period of the contract. The costs must be limited only to the types of work related to exploration (one year – 1,000 monthly calculation indices (MCI); two years – 1,000 MCI; three years – 1,000 MCI; four years – 1,200 MCI; five years – 1,400 MCI; six years – 1,600 MCI).

In addition, subsoil users make annual contributions to the socio-economic development of the region and its infrastructure in the form of annually increasing payments for each block (one year - 100 MCI; two years - 110 MCI; three years - 115 MCI; four years - 120 MCI; five years - 140 MCI; six years - 160 MCI; for each subsequent year - no less than 180 MCI).

The right for subsoil use will be submitted to auction if more than one application is additionally submitted to the requested plot on the official Internet site of the competent authority within five working days after the placement of information regarding the submitted application.

The list of subsoil areas provided for the exploration under simplified procedure regarding the district of the city of Stepnogorsk, as well as the list of geological information on these plots and the main conditions for participation in direct negotiations for the exploration under the simplified procedure is available online at: dep-nedra.mid.gov.kz.

Source: trend.az