The Senate has approved amendments to the Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use in two readings during a plenary session, endorsing a package of reforms aimed at modernizing regulation of the mining sector and boosting investment attractiveness.
Presenting the document, Senator Sagyndyk Lukpanov said the amendments formally establish a unified subsoil use platform as the core digital infrastructure of the industry. The platform will operate with an open database of geological information and cover nearly all business processes and public services related to the exploration and extraction of solid and common minerals. The law also закрепляет статус национальной геологической службы and grants strategic investors priority rights to explore and mine solid minerals.
The legislation provides for integration of the unified platform with the state fuel and energy management system, which collects, stores, and analyzes data on hydrocarbon resources. In addition, the national geological service is designated as the sole operator responsible for managing geological information. As a state body subordinate to the geology committee, it will not be subject to privatization and will ensure a centralized, standardized approach to studying the national subsoil fund, eliminating data duplication and fragmentation.
A number of amendments introduce electronic auctions as a mechanism for granting subsoil use rights. These auctions will be used to allocate free subsoil plots as well as areas where subsoil use rights have previously been terminated. The reforms also raise the required share of domestic content in works and services from 50% to 70% for exploration and mining operations, including uranium projects.
Additional provisions regulate the granting of subsoil use rights for facilities involving technogenic mineral formations located within populated areas. One of the licensing conditions for such activities is the mandatory removal of extracted technogenic mineral materials beyond settlement boundaries, followed by their processing.
The amendments also expand investment incentives for subsoil users implementing projects to process solid minerals. These preferences, already reflected in the new Tax Code, include exemptions from corporate income tax and land tax for 10 years, property tax for 8 years, and VAT on imported equipment for 5 years. At the same time, the minimum investment threshold for such processing projects is increased tenfold, from 7 million to 70 million monthly calculation indices.
