国务院令第242号
(Promulgated by Decree No. 242 of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on February 12, 1998.)
颁布日期：19980212 　实施日期：19980212 　颁布单位：国务院

Article 1 These Measures are formulated in accordance with the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China with a view to strengthening the administration of transfer of mineral exploration right and mining right, protecting the lawful rights and interests of persons with mineral exploration right and persons with mining right and promoting the development of the mining industry.

Article 2 These Measures must be adhered to in the transfer of mineral exploration right and mining right obtained according to law within the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under its jurisdiction.

Article 3 Mineral exploration right and mining right must not be transferred except for those which may be transferred in accordance with the following provisions:

(1)a person with mineral exploration right has the right to conduct specified exploration and survey operations within the delimited exploration and survey operations area(s) and has the right to obtain the mineral exploration right of mineral resources within the exploration and survey operations areas on a priority basis. A person with mineral exploration right may, upon fulfilment of the prescribed minimum exploration and survey input and approval in accordance with law, transfer the mineral exploration right to another person.

(2)a mining enterprise having obtained the mining right may, subject to approval in accordance with law, transfer the mining right to another person for exploitation as a result of enterprise amalgamation, separation, engaging in a joint venture or cooperative venture with another person, or as a result of the sale of the enterprise assets as well as other circumstances that change the property rights of the enterprise assets necessitating a change in the main body of the mining right.

Article 4 The competent department of geology and mineral resources under the State Council and the competent departments of geology and mineral resources of people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be the organs for the administration of examination and approval of the transfer of mineral exploration right and mining right.

The competent department of geology and mineral resources under the State Council shall be responsible for the examination and approval of the transfer of mineral exploration right and mining right the examination, approval and issuance of permits fall under its jurisdiction.

The competent departments of geology and mineral resources of people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be responsible for the examination and approval of the transfer of mineral exploration right and mining right other than those prescribed in the Second Paragraph of this Article.

Article 5 Transfer of mineral exploration right shall meet the following conditions:

(1)expiry of 2 years from the date of issuance of an exploration and survey permit, or discovery of mineral resources for further exploration and survey or exploitation within the exploration and survey operations area(s);

(2)fulfilment of the specified minimum exploration and survey input;

(3)there is no dispute over the ownership of the mineral exploration right;

(4)the mineral exploration right user's fee and mineral exploration right purchase price have already been paid pursuant to relevant state provisions; and

(5)other conditions prescribed by the competent department of geology and mineral resources under the State Council.

Article 6 Transfer of mining right shall meet the following conditions:

(1)expiry of one year of going into mining production of a mining enterprise;

(2)there is no dispute over the ownership of mining right;

(3)the mineral exploration right user's fee, mineral exploration right purchase price, mineral resources compensation fee and resources tax have already been paid pursuant to relevant state provisions; and

(4)other conditions prescribed by the competent department of geology and mineral resources under the State Council.

A state-owned mining enterprise should, prior to the application for the transfer of mining right, obtain the consent of the competent department of mining enterprises.

Article 7 A transferee of mineral exploration right or mining right should meet the qualifications of a mineral exploration right applicant or mining right applicant prescribed in the Measures for Area Registration Administration of Mineral Resources Exploration and Survey or the Measures for the Registration Administration of Mineral Resources Exploitation.

Article 8 A person with mineral exploration right or a person with mining right should, in applying for the transfer of mineral exploration right or mining right, present the following materials to the examination and approval administration organ:

(1)a letter of application for transfer;

(2)the transfer contract concluded between the transferor and the transferee;

(3)testimonial documents of human quality of the transferee;

(4)proof of conditions of transfer of the transferor as prescribed in Article 5 or Article 6 of these Measures;

(5)a report on mineral resources exploration and survey or exploitation; and

(6)other materials the presentation of which are required by the examination and approval administration organ.

A state-owned mining enterprise should, in transferring the mining right, present the approval document of the competent department concerned on consenting to the transfer of the mining right.

Article 9 An evaluation must be carried out in the transfer of mineral exploration right and mining right formed by state-contributed exploration and survey.

Evaluation of the transfer of mineral exploration right and mining right shall be carried out by evaluation agencies certified by the competent department of geology and mineral resources under the State Council in conjunction with the department of state assets management under the State Council; the evaluation results shall be confirmed by the competent department of geology and mineral resources under the State Council.

Article 10 With respect to applicants for the transfer of mineral exploration right or mining right, the examination and approval administration organ should, within 40 days from the date of receipt of the application for transfer, make a decision on the approval of the transfer or the non approval of the transfer and inform the transferor and the transferee of the same.

In case of approval of the transfer, the transferor and the transferee should, within 60 days from the date of receipt of the transfer approval notice, go through the formalities of registering the change at the organ that originally issued the permit; the transferee shall, upon effecting payment of relevant fees pursuant to state provisions, obtain an exploration and survey permit or a mining permit and become a person with mineral exploration right or a person with mining right.

In case of approval of the transfer, the transfer contract shall take effect as of the day of approval.

In case of non-approval of the transfer, the examination and approval administration organ should explain the reasons.

Article 11 The examination and approval administration organ should, upon approval of the transfer of mineral exploration right or mining right, notify the original permit issuing authority in time.

Article 12 The rights and obligations of a person with mineral exploration right or a person with mining right shall be transferred along with the transfer of the mineral exploration right or mining right.

Article 13 The duration of validity of the exploration and survey permit or the mining permit upon the transfer of the mineral exploration right or mining right shall be the remaining time period of the duration of validity of the original mineral exploration permit or mining permit minus the year(s) during which exploration or mining has already been conducted.

Article 14 Whoever transfers the mineral exploration right or mining right without authorization and approval of the examination and approval administration organ shall be ordered by the registration administration organ to make a rectification, confisticated of the illegal gains and imposed a fine of less than RMB 100,000 Yuan; where the circumstances are serious, the original permit issuing authority shall revoke the exploration and survey permit or mining permit.

Article 15 Whoever transfers the mining right to another person for exploitation in the form of contracting out without authorization in violation of the provisions of Section (2) of Article 3 of these Measures shall be ordered by the department responsible for the administration of geology and mineral resources of people's government at or above the county level pursuant to the terms of reference prescribed by the competent department of geology and mineral resources under the State Council to make a rectification, confisticated of the illegal gains and imposed a fine of less than RMB 100,000 Yuan; where the circumstances are serious, the original permit issuing authority shall revoke the mining permit.

Article 16 Any functionary of the examination and approval administration organs who indulges in self-seeking misconducts, abuses power, neglects duties that constitute a crime shall be investigated of criminal liability according to law; where a crime has not been constituted, administrative sanctions shall be imposed according to law.

Article 17 Formats of the letter of application for the transfer of mineral exploration right and the letter of application for the transfer of mining right shall be uniformly determined by the competent department of geology and mineral resources under the State Council.

Article 18 These Measures shall enter into force as of the date of promulgation.