IMPORTANT: This post takes a primarily historical and doctrinal approach to the evolution of mining law and the legal framework governing extractive operations. Although it retains value as a legal analysis, any current assessment of mining permits, concessions, resource exploitation, environmental impact, administrative intervention, or the feasibility of extractive projects must be reviewed in light of the specific case, the current Mining Act, its implementing regulations, applicable environmental legislation, regional regulations, and current administrative criteria.
This article reflects on the regulatory framework of extractive and mining operations from a historical perspective, reviewing the Romanization process, regalism, and the French Revolution.
The document begins by noting that, already in Roman law, the political power, in its administrative functions, could choose to reserve direct management of mining operations (as was the case with gold mining, according to Polybius) or to cede it through censorial leases to private individuals, who would only hold stable, and therefore conditional, possession of the deposits for the agreed term, in accordance with the clauses of a lex locationis, following a public auction that ensured equal competition among the mancipes or bidders.
This document is a brief historical and legal gem that develops the keys to the evolution of mining law from that point to the present day,
Furthermore, it reflects – in summary – on the “administrative suffocation” currently weighing on these activities, which form an essential part of any economy’s engine (a fundamental basis for the provision of raw materials and energy). This administrative situation exacerbates the economic crisis and highlights the need – now more than ever – to boost the profitability of these operations, reorienting them towards Article 40.1 of the Spanish Constitution, which enshrines the public promotion of our country’s social and economic progress.
Author: Francisco José Tejada Hernández. Attorney at IN DIEM.
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