The holder of a Mining Concession must begin development work within a maximum period of one (1) year from the date of the grant of the Mining Concession.
As of one year after the date of the grant, the holder will be subject to a penalty for delay of two million (2,000,000) USD per month for the first three (3) months. This penalty will increase by 10% per month over the previous month, effective from the fourth month until the twelfth month of delay.
Two (2) years from the grant date of the Mining Concession, if the holder has not commenced the development work in accordance with the provisions of this Code, the decree granting the Mining Concession, and the Mining Agreement, the State reserves the right to revoke or cancel the Title.
The holder of a Mining Concession must begin the Operating Phase as defined in Article 168, within the timeframe stipulated in the feasibility study and within a maximum of five (5) years from the grant date of the grant of the Mining Title relating to the Concessions to extract and export unprocessed ore and six (6) years for those dedicated to the processing of raw materials in the territory of Guinea.
After this deadline, a penalty for delay corresponding to the balance of unfulfilled investments scheduled for a given calendar year shall apply. This penalty will not be due if the established deficit of unfulfilled expenditures is less than 10% of the expenditure for the relevant calendar year and / or is the result of an adjustment to the works program validated by the Minister, following the approval of the National Mining Commission.
The provisions of Article 88 will be applied when the mining work or the total expenditure of the titleholder is less than 25% for a period of two consecutive years of the entire minimum work program, or of the total minimum expenditure provided for this period by the Mining Title or by the terms of reference of the Concession, except in duly justified cases of force majeure; such instances of force majeure not to exceed twelve (12) months.
For the purpose of this Article, the “commencement of the development work” is defined as undertaking preparatory, development and construction work amounting to a minimum sum of between ten percent (10%) and fifteen percent (15%) of the total amount of the investment.