Annual mining fee: calculation, March payment, effects of non-payment

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What the annual fee is and when it becomes payable

Maintenance consists of paying an annual fee, in advance each year, in the manner and for the amount determined by the Mining Code (Law No. 18,097, art. 12; Mining Code, art. 142). It is different from the application fee (tasa), which is paid only once for each pedimento or manifestación (art. 51).

The obligation begins when the judgment is requested for an exploration concession, or the survey (mensura) for a pertenencia. At that point, a first annual fee is paid, proportional to the time remaining until the last day of the following February, and its receipt is attached to the request (arts. 55, 59 and 144). For pertenencias, for that first annual fee and up to the first year in force, the law applies the amount of 0.1 UTM per hectare (art. 144).

How much is paid

Amounts are set in monthly tax units (UTM) per full hectare and are paid in pesos, at the UTM value for the month in which payment is made (Mining Code Regulations, art. 49). Since January 1, 2024, Article 142 bis has been in force, added by Law No. 21,420 with the text given to it by Law No. 21,649:

Exploration

0.06 UTM (three fiftieths) per hectare and per year in force. A 300-hectare concession pays 18 UTM a year (art. 142 bis).

Pertenencia with a reduced fee

0.1 UTM per hectare if there is proof of works, activities or constructions that permanently and continuously allow mining operations; of a project with an Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA) or admitted for processing in the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA); or, for projects not required to enter that system, of a pending permit under Title XV of the Mining Safety Regulations, a ground that applies only once (art. 142 bis).

Pertenencia without a reduced fee

Per hectare, according to the years in force: 0.4 UTM from year 1 to 5; 0.8 from 6 to 10; 0.9 from 11 to 15; 1.2 from 16 to 20; 3 from 21 to 25; 6 from 26 to 30; and 12 from year 31 onward (art. 142 bis). If maintenance began before January 1, 2024, the first year in force is deemed completed on the last day of February 2025, and years paid at 0.1 UTM or at one ten-thousandth of a UTM per hectare are not counted (Regulations, art. 60).

Special regimes

Small-scale miners and artisanal miners who personally work their pertenencias pay one ten-thousandth of a UTM per hectare, subject to limits on employees and area (art. 142). Individuals, statutory mining companies (sociedades legales mineras), mining cooperatives and individual limited liability companies whose pertenencias do not exceed 500 hectares in total, calculated as the law provides, that carry out work under one of the grounds for the reduced fee, are up to date with their annual fee payments and meet the other requirements, pay 0.1 UTM per hectare (art. 142 ter). On a one-time basis, and during the five-year period counted from the entry into force of Law No. 21,649, they may access that amount without proving the grounds for the reduced fee (Law No. 21,649, second transitory article). The benefit is not automatic: it is requested from SERNAGEOMIN, which approves it by resolution, with a sworn statement on the area limit; once approved, it applies from March 1 of the year of approval until the end of that period (Decree No. 7 of 2025, which replaced the second transitory article of Decree No. 10 of 2024). Check the application dates in SERNAGEOMIN’s current information sheet.

The reduced fee is not automatic. SERNAGEOMIN determines it based on the supporting documents provided by the holder. For the reduced annual fee under Article 142 bis, the request is filed between April 1 and July 31 of the year before payment; the list of pertenencias approved and rejected is published no later than the first día hábil of December, may be challenged within thirty days and is communicated to the General Treasury (TGR) before March 1 (art. 143; Regulations, arts. 56 and 57). In addition, anyone who does not submit the geological information report required by law, and does not do so within sixty days after SERNAGEOMIN’s request either, is barred from the reduced annual fee under Article 142 bis (art. 21).

Payment in March

Payment is made in advance during the month of March each year, at any bank or institution authorized to collect taxes (Mining Code, art. 143). Annual fees paid are not refunded if the concession is later surrendered, lapses or is extinguished (art. 145).

What happens if it is not paid

If the annual fee is not paid on time, judicial proceedings begin to auction the concession. The debt can be enforced only against the concession itself, and the action is time-barred three years from April 1 of the year in which the fee should have been paid (art. 146). The TGR’s list may also include pedimentos and manifestaciones whose maintenance obligation has already begun (Regulations, art. 51).

1. Before July 1, the TGR sends each court the list of unpaid annual fees. Until the list is sent, the fee can be paid without a surcharge (art. 147).
2. After the list is sent, the owner can remove their concession from the auction, up to the moment of the auction, by paying twice the amount owed (art. 149).
3. If there is no bidder, the judge declares the ground open (terreno franco) and orders the registry entries to be canceled (art. 155). That ruling makes the concession lapse (Law No. 18,097, art. 18(a)).

The stages, the deadlines and the finality of the declaration are explained in How mining concession auctions work.

How PMD helps you

With an active subscription, each concession record shows the status of the annual fee for the current period according to the payments reported by the TGR: PAID (payment dated in March), PAID OUTSIDE MARCH (dated in another month), PRORATED FEE (the only payment recorded is for the current period), UNPAID (no payment recorded for the period) or NO PAYMENT DATA. These labels describe the available records: they do not determine whether a surcharge applied, nor do they prove a debt. The record also includes the payment history, a lookup of the latest payment form with the TGR and the status of the reduced fee.

The design tools estimate the application fee and the annual fees, the auction monitor follows court cases for unpaid annual fees, and monitoring alerts you to publications in the Official Mining Bulletin (Boletín Oficial de Minería), including auctions, that affect your favorite concessions.

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Main legal framework: Law No. 18,097, the Organic Constitutional Law on Mining Concessions; the Mining Code, Law No. 18,248, as amended by Laws No. 21,420 and No. 21,649; and its Regulations, Supreme Decree No. 1 of 1986, as amended by Supreme Decree No. 10 of 2024, according to the text published by the Library of the National Congress of Chile. Review: October 23, 2026.