Doing Business in Greenland - Book - Page 17
8.4.3 Exploitation licence
If the licensee of an exploration
licence has substantiated and
delineated a viable mineral deposit
which the licensee intends to exploit,
and the+ licensee has performed all
of its obligations in relation to the
exploration licence and activities
under the licence,the licensee is
entitled
to
be
granted
an
exploitation licence subject to
certain conditions.
The licence is granted for a period of
30 years unless a shorter term is
specified. The Government may
extend the exploitation licence for
additional periods, up to a maximum
total period of 50 years.
A project’s Terms of Reference must
be submitted for public consultation
for a minimum of 35 calendar days
before an exploitation licence can be
granted.
Unlike
the
previous
licensing
framework, the (new) Mining Act
allows the licensee to submit the
Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA), the Social Impact Assessment
(SIA), and the Impact Benefit
Agreement (regarding the use of
local labour and suppliers) after the
exploitation
licence
has
been
granted,
but
before
mineral
exploitation begins.
If the proposed activities are
considered likely to have a
potentially significant environmental
or social impact, the EIA and SIA
must be prepared and approved.
These assessments are also subject
to an eight‑week public consultation
period.
Before any exploitation activities or
measures related to such activities
are initiated, the licensee must also
prepare and obtain approval of both
a mining plan and a closure plan. All
activities covered by the licence may
only commence once approval for
the specific activities has been
granted.
An exploitation licence may only be
granted to a public limited liability
company
(A/S)
domiciled
in
Greenland. Also, the management of
the company (licenee) must have its
seat in Greenland. The Government
of Greenland may approve that a
licensee is exempted from fulfilling
the this requirement for a period of
up to 24 months after the grant of
an exploitation licence.
The licensee may only perform and
previously have performed activities
and operations under licences
granted under the Mining Act. Also,
the company must i) not be taxed
jointly with other companies, unless
joint taxation is compulsory; ii) not be
more thinly capitalized than its
group; however iii) the loan capital (
debt ) may exceed the company’s
equity up to a ratio of 2:1.
8.4.4 Royalty payment
Minerals
Sales
Royalty
Minerals (other than
REE, gemstones and
uranium)
2.5 %
REE*
5.0 %
* Corporate tax and corporate dividend
tax may be offset against sales royalty
or surplus royalty
Helen Kibsgaard
Partner, attorney-at-law
hk@nunalaw.gl
Thor Suhr
Partner, attorney-at-law
ts@nunalaw.gl
Peter Schriver
Partner, Attorney-at-law
ps@nunalaw.gl
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