Exploration and mining licences: eligibility and financial capacity, the exploration licence and its 48-month term, recognition of reserves and the explorer's priority, the mining licence and its 30-year term, Group III and Group IV licences, the holder's obligations, transfer, revocation and closure, with a worked timeline

Who may hold an exploration licence

Article 37 of Law No. 54/2024/QH15 admits three kinds of organisation that have registered mineral activity as a business line: an enterprise established under the Law on Enterprises, a cooperative or union of cooperatives, and a foreign enterprise that has a representative office or branch in Vietnam. Individuals and household members who register a household business may explore for Group III minerals only. An exploration licence holder that itself meets the conditions in Article 38 (qualified geological staff, technical workers and specialised equipment) may carry out the exploration directly; one that does not must contract a licensed exploration service provider. For a foreign mining group the practical choice is between exploring through a branch of the foreign parent, which avoids forming a company at the speculative stage, and exploring through the Vietnamese company that will later mine, which avoids a transfer of the exploration results.

The decisive condition is money. Article 26 of Decree No. 193/2025/ND-CP, as rewritten by Decree No. 21/2026/ND-CP, requires the applicant to secure 100% of the exploration budget through owner's equity shown in audited financial statements, a bank guarantee, or a combination of the two (FAQ 106). A newly formed company proves its equity with audited statements for the year of application, so capital should be contributed and audited before the dossier is filed.

The exploration licence

The heart of the application is the exploration scheme under Article 42: the methods, the volume of work, the budget and the timetable needed to establish reserves and quality to the standard the regulations require. Article 41 caps the area of a single licence at 100 km2 for coal and bauxite, 50 km2 for gemstones and metallic minerals other than bauxite, 10 km2 for non-metallic minerals onshore other than Group III, 200 km2 offshore (more with the Prime Minister's decision), and 2 km2 onshore or 30 km2 offshore for Group III, with mineral and hot water areas fixed by the scheme. Before preparing the scheme the applicant may survey the ground and take surface samples after notifying the province (Article 40).

Article 44(4) sets the term: no more than 48 months, covering both the work and the preparation of the results report, extendable no more than twice for a combined 24 months. Under Article 37 of the decree an extension is available only if the application reaches the authority at least 45 days before expiry and at least 50% of the exploration budget has been spent (and 50% of the remainder for a second extension); work must stop if the licence expires while the extension is pending. Where force majeure has prevented completion, the licence may be re-issued for up to the original period. Exploration under an intergovernmental agreement follows the agreement's terms on area and time (FAQ 104).

Article 42 of the decree gives the appraisal body no more than 70 days to appraise an exploration licence application once the dossier has been accepted, with consulted agencies given 12 working days to reply; the decision follows within a few working days of the appraisal. The licence must be put to use: Article 52(1)(b) requires revocation if exploration has not begun within six months of the licence taking effect, save for force majeure.

Recognition of reserves and the explorer's priority

Exploration ends with a report of results, which must be submitted for recognition within six months after the exploration licence expires (Article 50(3)); an explorer that misses that window loses the right to have its results recognised and, if the area is licensed to someone else, the right to be reimbursed its exploration costs (Article 50(4)). Results for ministry-licensed areas are recognised by the National Mineral Reserve Assessment Council; those for provincially licensed areas by the provincial People's Committee (Article 51).

Recognition opens the explorer's priority window. Article 48(1) gives the explorer priority to file for a mining licence over the recognised reserves; the 2024 text set a single period of 36 months from recognition, and the period now applied is 36 months for Groups I and II and 18 months for Group III (FAQ 104). After the window closes the priority is lost, save for force majeure or a change of State policy, and if the area is licensed to another miner that miner must reimburse the explorer's costs (Article 48(2)). Article 46 of the decree extends the window where the explorer's investment policy, environmental impact assessment or design approvals were filed on time but not yet decided, or where the authorities have suspended licensing.

Who may hold a mining licence, and with what capital

Article 53 restricts mining licences to enterprises established under the Law on Enterprises and cooperatives, and to household businesses for Group III. A foreign enterprise cannot mine through a branch; it must form a Vietnamese company, register its project and obtain an Investment Registration Certificate (The Investment Registration Certificate). Article 55 of Decree No. 193/2025/ND-CP requires the applicant to show either owner's equity of at least 30% of total investment in the mining project, excluding VAT, or the ability to arrange financing equal to the whole of the total investment from its own equity, lenders' financing commitments and a parent company's commitments to contribute, lend or support cash flow; a parent that commits must itself have equity at least equal to its commitment.

Strategic and important minerals add conditions under Article 110 of the decree: the miner must invest directly or jointly in an approved mining and processing project, have experience in mining projects, and present a project that names its mine director, sets out a clear and feasible financing plan, uses modern equipment and automated monitoring, and treats its environmental impacts. Rare earths add the Prime Minister's written approval (Strategic minerals, rare earths and exports).

The mining licence

The mining licence records the area and permitted depth, the main and associated minerals, the reserves or volume permitted, the capacity and method of mining and the term (Article 56(2)). Under Article 61 of the decree the applicant must have the lawful right to use the exploration results, the financial capacity required by Article 55, investment policy approval where the investment laws require it, an approved environmental impact assessment or an environmental licence (FAQ 109) and, for radioactive minerals or ores containing radioactive by-products, the written opinion on a safety assessment under the atomic energy law; the dossier comprises the application, the maps, sections and design drawings, the feasibility study and the approved environmental report or licence. Under Article 67 of the decree the appraisal body has no more than 60 days to appraise a new or re-issued licence and no more than 24 working days for an extension, adjustment, surrender or transfer.

Article 56(4) fixes the term at the approved project period, including construction, up to 30 years, extendable several times for a combined total of up to 20 years. When the term and all extensions are exhausted but reserves remain, the holder may apply for a re-issued licence for a further term on the same basis. Since Law No. 147/2025/QH15, extensions and renewals are no longer limited by the period of the mineral plan. Under Article 62 of the decree an extension application must reach the authority at least 30 days before expiry; if the licence expires while the application is pending, mining must stop until the extension is granted.

Group III, Group IV and small-scale licences

The law relieves smaller and simpler operations in three ways. Group III exploration areas are capped at 2 km2 onshore, and household businesses may hold Group III exploration and mining licences. Since 1 January 2026, Group III construction materials supplying listed public projects may be licensed without reference to the provincial mineral management plan (Article 55(1a), inserted by Law No. 147/2025/QH15). And Group IV fill materials are mined without any exploration licence, after a survey of general information on the mineral (Article 73).

A Group IV licence granted to an ordinary miner runs for up to ten years, including construction, extendable for a combined five years (Article 88(1) of the decree). A Group IV licence granted to the investor or construction contractor of a national key project, an urgent public investment project, a national target programme work or a disaster response runs for the construction period of the works it supplies (Article 88(2)), and such a contractor is spared investment policy approval, the environmental impact assessment and the environmental licence, though it must file a Group IV mining plan (Article 73(2)(d)). Minerals in small and dispersed areas and salvage mining are licensed by the province on lighter dossiers.

What a licence holder must do

Article 59 of the law lists the miner's obligations, and the most important in practice are these: pay the fee for granting mining rights, natural resources tax, fees and charges; mine to the licensed reserves, capacity and method, and recover associated minerals; appoint a qualified mine director and mine operating staff (Article 62); keep current status maps and cross-sections of the mined area (Article 63); measure output before minerals leave the site and keep statistics and inventories of reserves (Article 64); comply with mine safety under Article 60; prioritise local labour and support affected communities; restore the environment; and report periodically to the licensing authority under Article 7 of the decree. Strategic-mineral and rare-earth miners report monthly.

A licence holder that wishes to change the mining method, capacity, area or depth must apply to adjust the licence before doing so (Article 64 of the decree). Mining beyond the licensed capacity or area, failing to measure output and misreporting reserves are the usual triggers for administrative penalties and, at scale, for revocation.

Transfer of licences

A licence is not freely transferable. Exploration rights may be transferred only when at least 50% of the exploration budget has been spent, to a transferee that qualifies for an exploration licence; the authority grants the transferee a licence for the remaining term (Article 46). Mining rights may be transferred only after construction is complete and the mine has been brought into production, to a transferee that qualifies for a mining licence; again the transferee receives a licence for the remaining term (Article 58). Article 66 of the decree adds that the transferor must have discharged its obligations under the licence, that for ministry licences the province must confirm this, that at least six months of the licence must remain when the application is filed, and that the transfer contract must state the works and infrastructure transferred, the price, the status of financial obligations and the transferee's assumption of unfinished obligations. Rare-earth transfers need the Prime Minister's written approval.

These rules govern a change of licence holder. A sale of shares or capital in the company that holds the licence does not change the holder and is not a transfer of mining rights in terms; it is governed by the investment and enterprise laws, may need registration under Article 21 of the Law on Investment where foreign ownership rises, and is taxed under the capital-transfer rules (Tax on share transfers and dividends). Authorities sometimes treat a change of control as a matter to be reported, and the target's licence conditions should be checked for change-of-control provisions.

Revocation, termination and closure

Article 52 requires an exploration licence to be revoked if it was issued without authority or unlawfully, if exploration has not begun within six months, if the area becomes prohibited or temporarily prohibited, or if the State recovers the whole area for another use. Article 66 requires a mining licence to be revoked on the first, third and fourth of those grounds and for serious breach of the miner's obligations, and lists the events that end it: revocation, expiry without extension, surrender, dissolution or bankruptcy, revocation of the enterprise registration, termination of the investment project, land recovery for breach and court judgment or arbitral award. Revocation because the area becomes prohibited or the land is recovered for another use carries compensation (Articles 52(4) and 66(5)).

When a mining licence ends, the miner must close the mine under the closure scheme approved under Articles 82 and 83, remove its assets within six months, and leave in place the works that secure the mine's safety and the environment (Article 66(3)). Closure and the rehabilitation deposit are explained in Mining taxes, fees and the environment.

From open ground to a producing mine (Group I, non-auction area)

1. Confirm the area and the vehicleCheck the planning, auction status and prohibited areas; form the Vietnamese company or register the branch; obtain the IRC where needed.
2. Survey and prepare the exploration schemeNotify the province, survey and sample the surface (Article 40), and prepare the scheme with budget and timetable (Article 42).
3. Apply for the exploration licenceFile with MOIT with evidence of equity or a bank guarantee for 100% of the budget; appraisal within 70 days (Article 42 of the decree).
4. Explore and reportBegin within six months, complete the work within the 48-month term, and file the results report within six months of expiry (Article 50).
5. Obtain recognition of reservesNational Mineral Reserve Assessment Council for ministry licences (Article 51).
6. Prepare the mining project and environmental approvalsFeasibility study, investment registration adjustment, environmental impact assessment, land plan; all within the priority window (Article 48).
7. Apply for the mining licenceShow 30% equity or full financing (Article 55 of the decree); appraisal within 60 days (Article 67); approval of the fee for granting mining rights.
8. Lease the land, build and start productionLand recovery and lease by the province; rehabilitation deposit; mine construction; production and the first annual reports.