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The legal regulation of the use and protection of subsoil in the Russian Federation is a key component of state policy in the field of natural resources. Subsoil, including minerals, energy resources, and groundwater, is owned by the state, which implies strict control over their rational use and protection. Legislation defines the procedure for granting subsoil for use, the rights and obligations of users, as well as measures of liability for violations, ensuring a balance between economic benefits and the preservation of natural potential.
The main requirements for the rational use of mineral resources include compliance with licenses, comprehensive geological exploration, accounting and preservation of mineral reserves, prevention of pollution and destruction of subsoil. An important aspect is the state expert review of projects, monitoring of underground resources, and adherence to environmental standards. Violation of these requirements may result in restrictions or termination of the right to use subsoil by authorized bodies.
The granting of subsoil for use is carried out through licenses, geological and mining allocations, as well as production sharing agreements. Users are granted exclusive rights to develop or explore a subsurface area and must comply with the terms of the license, ensure safe operations, and preserve natural resources. Subsoil may be used simultaneously for geological exploration, prospecting, and mineral extraction, which allows for an effective combination of scientific research and economic activities.
Users of mineral resources have the right to use the area for various purposes, extract minerals, and manage waste from mining processes. At the same time, legislation imposes obligations on them regarding record-keeping, submission of reports, compliance with environmental standards, protection of the environment, and safety in mining operations. Particular attention is given to the qualifications of specialists and adherence to technical projects, ensuring a professional and safe approach to the use of mineral resources.
The right to use mineral resources arises based on decisions by federal and regional authorities, competitive or auction procedures, production sharing agreements, and state contracts. The termination, suspension, or restriction of the right to use mineral resources may occur in cases of threats to human life, violation of license conditions, or emergency situations. Legislation guarantees the possibility of challenging such decisions, ensuring transparency and legal protection for users of mineral resources within the established legal framework.
As noted by N.I. Khludeyeva, the country's natural potential of mineral reserves is enormous, however, this does not mean that it is inexhaustible and does not require the state to take timely measures, including legal ones, aimed at rational use, restoration and protection of minerals1.
The main requirements for the rational use and protection of mineral resources are: 1) compliance with the order established by legislation for granting mineral resources for use and prevention of unauthorized use of mineral resources; 2) ensuring comprehensive geological study, rational integrated use and protection of mineral resources; 3) conducting advanced geological studies of mineral resources that ensure reliable assessment of reserves of minerals or properties of a mineral resource area granted for use in purposes not related to the extraction of minerals; 4) carrying out state expert review and state accounting of mineral reserves, as well as areas of mineral resources used in purposes not related to the extraction of minerals; 5) ensuring the most complete recovery from mineral resources of reserves of main minerals and those occurring together with them, as well as associated components; 6) reliable accounting of extracted and left-in-the-minerals reserves of main minerals and those occurring together with them, as well as associated components during the development of mineral deposits; 7) protection of mineral deposits from flooding, waterlogging, fires, and other factors that reduce the quality of minerals and the industrial value of the deposits or complicate their exploitation; 8) prevention of contamination of the subsurface during activities related to the use of subsurface resources, especially during underground storage of oil, gas, or other substances and materials, disposal of hazardous substances and production waste, and discharge of wastewater; 9) compliance with established procedures for the conservation and decommissioning of mineral extraction enterprises and underground structures not related to mineral extraction; 10) prevention of unauthorized construction on areas where minerals are located and adherence to the established procedure for using these areas for other purposes; 11) prevention of placing production and consumption waste on catchment areas of groundwater objects and in locations where groundwater is found that is used for drinking and household water supply or industrial water supply, or has been reserved for such purposes; as a source of drinking water and domestic water supply.
In the event of a violation of the aforementioned requirements, the right to use mineral resources may be restricted, suspended, or terminated by authorized state bodies in accordance with legislation (Article 23 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Mineral Resources").
The subsoil within the territory of the Russian Federation, including the underground space and minerals, energy resources, and other resources contained in the subsoil, belong to the state. Issues concerning ownership, use, and disposal of the subsoil are under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation. Subsoil plots cannot be the subject of purchase, sale, gift, inheritance, contribution, pledge, or alienation in any other form. Rights to use the subsoil may be transferred from one person to another to the extent that their circulation is allowed by federal laws. Minerals and other resources extracted from the subsoil may belong to the federal state property, the property of subjects of the Russian Federation, municipal, private, or other forms of ownership (Article 1.2 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Subsoil"). An object of property rights may also be geological and other information about the subsoil (Article 27 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Subsoil").
Landowners, land users, landholders, and lessees of land plots have the right, at their discretion, within the boundaries of the land plots, to carry out, without the use of blasting operations, the extraction of common widespread minerals not listed on the state balance, as well as the construction of underground structures for their own needs up to a depth of five meters, and also the installation and operation of household wells and boreholes into the first aquifer that is not a source of centralized water supply, in accordance with procedures established by the executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation2 (Article 19 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Subsoil").
Granting subsoil plots for use in the forms of geological allocation and mining allocation. In accordance with a license for the use of subsoil for the extraction of minerals, construction and operation of underground structures not related to mineral extraction, formation of specially protected geological objects, as well as in accordance with an agreement on product sharing during exploration and extraction of mineral raw materials, a subsoil plot is provided to the user in the form of a mining allocation - a geometrized block of subsoil (part 1 of article 7 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Subsoil"). A subsoil user who has received a mining allocation has an exclusive right to use the subsoil within its boundaries in accordance with the granted license. Any activity related to the use of subsoil within the boundaries of a mining allocation can be carried out only with the consent of the subsoil user to whom it has been allocated (part 4 of article 7 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Subsoil").
The subsurface area provided under a license for geological exploration without significant disruption of the integrity of the subsurface (without driving heavy mining workings or drilling wells for mineral extraction or constructing underground structures for purposes not related to mineral extraction) is granted the status of a geological reservation by decision of the federal authority managing the state subsurface fund or its territorial body. Within the boundaries of a geological reservation, several subsurface users may simultaneously conduct activities. Their mutual relations are determined when granting the subsurface for use (paragraph 5 of Article 7 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Subsurface").
Subsoil is provided for use for: 1) regional geological exploration, including regional geological and geophysical works, geological surveying, engineering-geological investigations, scientific research, paleontological and other works aimed at general geological study of the subsoil, geological work for earthquake prediction and study of volcanic activity, creation and maintenance of monitoring of the condition of the subsoil, control over the regime of groundwater, as well as other works carried out without significant disruption of the integrity of the subsoil; 2) geological exploration, including search and evaluation of mineral deposits, as well as geological study and assessment of suitability of subsoil areas for construction and operation of underground structures not related to mining of minerals; 3) exploration and extraction of minerals, including utilization of waste from mining and associated processing industries; 4) construction and operation of underground structures not related to the extraction of minerals; 5) formation special protection geological objects having scientific, cultural, aesthetic, sanitary and health-improving and other significance (scientific and educational polygons, geological reserves, nature monuments, caves and other underground cavities); 6) collection of mineralogical, paleontological and other geological collection materials.
Subsoil may be granted for use simultaneously for geological exploration, surveying, and mining of minerals. At the same time, surveying and mining of minerals, except for surveying and mining of minerals on federal subsoil areas, may be carried out both during the geological study of the subsoil and after its completion. Surveying and mining of minerals on a federal subsoil area may be conducted based on a decision by the Government of the Russian Federation regarding the possibility of conducting surveying and mining of minerals on this subsoil area by the subsoil user only after the completion of geological study of the subsoil on this subsoil area (Article 6 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Subsoil").
The subsurface user has the right: 1) to use the subsurface area provided to him for any form of entrepreneurial or other activity corresponding to the purpose specified in the license or in the production sharing agreement; 2) to independently choose forms of this activity that do not contradict current legislation; 3) to use the results of his activities, including extracted mineral raw materials, in accordance with the license or production sharing agreement and current legislation; 4) to use waste from his mining and related processing industries, unless otherwise stipulated in the license or production sharing agreement; 5) to limit the construction on areas where minerals are located within the boundaries of the mining concession provided to him; 6) to conduct geological exploration of subsurface resources at his own expense within the boundaries of the mining concession provided to him in accordance with the license or production sharing agreement, without additional permits; 7) to approach the authorities that issued the license regarding the reconsideration of conditions licenses in the event of circumstances significantly different from those under which the license was issued (Article 22 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Mineral Resources").
The user of the subsoil is obliged to ensure: 1) compliance with legal requirements, as well as standards (norms, rules) approved in accordance with established procedures regarding the technology of conducting works related to the use of subsoil and during the primary processing of mineral raw materials; 2) compliance with the requirements of technical projects, plans or schemes for the development of mining operations, prevention of excessive losses, depletion and selective exploitation of minerals; 3) keeping geological, surveying and other documentation throughout all types of subsoil use; 4) submission of geological information to the federal and relevant territorial geological information funds; 5) submission of reliable data on explored, recoverable and left-in-place reserves of minerals, their components, as well as on the use of subsoil for purposes not related to mineral extraction, to the federal and relevant territorial geological information funds and to state statistical bodies; 6) safe conduct of works related to the use of subsoil; 7) compliance with the approved standards (norms, rules), established in accordance with the prescribed procedures, regulating the conditions for the protection of subsoil, atmospheric air, land, forests, water objects, as well as buildings and structures from harmful effects caused by work related to the use of subsoil; 8) restoration of land plots and other natural objects damaged during the use of subsoil to a condition suitable for their further use; 9) safety of mining workings, drilling wells and other facilities related to the use of subsoil located within the boundaries of the subsoil area provided for use; 10) preservation of exploratory mining workings and drilling wells that may be used during the development of deposits and (or) for other economic purposes; elimination in accordance with established procedures of mining workings and drilling wells not subject to use; 11) compliance with conditions set by the license or production sharing agreement, timely and proper payment for the use of subsoil; 12) preservation of valuable and hazardous cargo, geological, surveying and other documentation, special correspondence, as well as cargo containing information carriers classified as state secrets.
Users of mineral resources or those involved by them in the use of mineral resources by other legal and physical persons are subject to requirements regarding the presence of special qualifications and experience, confirmed by a state license (certificate, diploma) for conducting the relevant type of activity: geological surveying, exploration, prospecting, various methods of mining minerals, construction and operation of underground structures, other types of use of mineral resources (Article 22 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Mineral Resources").
The grounds for the emergence of the right to use subsoil plots are: 1) a decision by the Government of the Russian Federation; 2) a decision by a federal executive body managing the state subsoil fund or its territorial body; 3) a decision by a commission established by a federal executive body managing the state subsoil fund; 4) a decision by a tender or auction commission to grant the right to use a subsoil plot; 5) a decision by an executive authority of a subject of the Russian Federation, coordinated with a federal executive body managing the state subsoil fund or its territorial body; 6) a decision by a state authority of a subject of the Russian Federation adopted in accordance with the legislation of that subject; 7) transfer of the right to use subsoil plots in accordance with the grounds established by federal laws regulating subsoil use; 8) an agreement on production sharing that has entered into force, concluded in accordance with the Federal Law "On Production Sharing Agreements"3; 9) state contract for the performance of work on the geological survey of mineral resources (including regional), concluded by the federal executive authority responsible for managing the state mineral fund in accordance with the Federal Law "On the Contract System in the Field of Procurement of Goods, Works, and Services to Meet State and Municipal Needs"4.
The right to use mineral resources terminates: 1) upon expiration of the term specified in the license; 2) if the license holder renounces the right to use mineral resources; 3) upon occurrence of a specific condition (if it is stipulated in the license), the fulfillment of which leads to termination of the right to use mineral resources; 4) in cases of reissuance of the license in violation of the conditions provided for in Article 17.1 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Mineral Resources"; 5) in cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation on concession agreements.
The right to use mineral resources may be terminated, suspended, or restricted by the authority that issued the license in the following cases: 1) emergence of an immediate threat to the life or health of people working or residing in the area affected by operations related to the use of mineral resources; 2) violation by the user of mineral resources of essential terms of the license; 3) systematic violations by the user of mineral resources of established rules for the use of mineral resources; 4) occurrence of emergency situations (natural disasters, military actions, and others); 5) if the user of mineral resources does not commence the use of mineral resources in the volumes provided for within the period stipulated in the license; 6) liquidation of an enterprise or other entity of economic activity to which the mineral resources were granted for use; 7) at the initiative of the license holder; 8) failure by the user of mineral resources to submit reports required by Russian Federation legislation on mineral resources; 9) at the initiative of the mineral resource user upon their application.
The right to use a federal-level mineral deposit for exploration and mining, carried out under a combined license, may be terminated prematurely by the authorities that issued such a license, based on a decision of the Government of the Russian Federation adopted in accordance with paragraph 5 of Article 2.1 of the Law. If the user of the mineral deposit disagrees with the decision to terminate, suspend, or restrict the right to use the minerals, he may challenge it through administrative or judicial proceedings. When using the minerals under a production-sharing agreement, the right to use the minerals may be terminated, suspended, or restricted in accordance with the terms and procedures provided for in such an agreement (Article 20 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Minerals").
Institutes of Environmental Law / ed. by S.A. Bogolyubov. Moscow, 2010. P. 288. ↩
Similar provisions are also contained in the Land Code of the Russian Federation. According to which the owner of a land plot has the right to use, in accordance with established procedures, for his own needs common minerals and fresh groundwater present on the land plot, as well as ponds and water-filled quarries in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation (subparagraph 1 of paragraph 1 of article 40 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation). At the same time, persons who are not owners of land plots (land users, landowners and lessees of land plots), except for holders of servitudes, exercise the rights of land plot owners (paragraph 1 of article 41 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation). ↩
A production sharing agreement is a contract under which the Russian Federation grants an entity engaged in business activities (investor) on a remunerative basis and for a specified period of time exclusive rights to conduct exploration, prospecting, and mining of mineral raw materials on the subsoil area specified in the agreement, as well as to carry out related work, while the investor is obliged to perform these works at its own expense and at its own risk. The agreement defines all necessary conditions relating to the use of subsoil, including the terms and procedures for the distribution of produced products between the parties to the agreement in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Law "On Production Sharing Agreements" (Part 1 of Article 2 of the Federal Law "On Production Sharing Agreements"). ↩
Federal Law No. 44-FZ dated April 5, 2013 "On the Contract System in the Field of Procurement of Goods, Works, and Services for State and Municipal Needs" // RSZ RF. 2013. No. 14. Article 1652. ↩
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