Manuel Protásio e Catarina Coimbra contribute to Cescon Barrieu’s Mining Guide, providing an analysis of the legal framework governing the mining sector in Portugal.

The guide addresses several key areas of mining activity, including environmental licensing and socio-environmental matters, investment mechanisms and standard mining contracts, and the framework applicable to critical and strategic minerals.

On environmental matters, the authors examine the various regulatory regimes that may apply to mining projects in Portugal, ranging from Environmental Impact Assessment and water resources to waste management and environmental liability. Highlighting the coordination between these different regimes, they note that “all permits are aggregated in a Single Environmental Title (Título Único Ambiental, TUA), which consolidates all environmental requirements applicable to a given establishment or project.”

The guide also examines the structures typically used for investment in the Portuguese mining sector, including joint ventures and equity participation structures, as well as the central role played by administrative concession agreements in the exploitation of mineral resources.

Regarding critical and strategic minerals, the analysis places the Portuguese legal framework within the broader European context, including the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, particularly relevant to strategic raw materials such as lithium, copper and rare earth elements.

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