The Xunta opens a tender to exploit seven expired mining concessions in A Coruña

The Department of Economy and Industry has declared the lands corresponding to seven expired mining exploitation concessions in the municipalities of Cabana de Bergantiños, Coristanco, and Santa Comba as vacant and has announced the public tender for their granting. The decision appears in the Order of October 2, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of Galicia (DOG) no. 193, of October 9, 2026, on page 51941, with the reference CVE-DOG: fmwumde4-hhg2-plx5-lib4-fvdvg5bl5et1. The tender covers only applications for direct exploitation concessions.

Legal framework and competence

The call is processed under articles 39.2, 53, and 64 of Law 22/1973, of July 21, on Mines, and articles 72 and 85 of the General Regulation for the Mining Regime (Royal Decree 2857/1978, of August 25). The regional reference standard is Law 3/2008, of May 23, on the organization of mining in Galicia, which in its articles 35 and 36 regulates the tender and mandates separate calls by province following the finality of the expiration declarations.

Law 2/2024, of November 7, for the promotion of social and economic benefits of projects using natural resources in Galicia, requires the incorporation of social quality and socioeconomic impact criteria representing at least 40% of the scoring. The order was signed by Pablo Fernández Vila, Director General of Energy Planning and Mines, by delegation of the regional minister (Order of November 4, 2024, DOG no. 217, of November 11), following the report from the Legal Advisory Office of September 24, 2026.

Seven expired rights and 4,488 hectares

Annex I details the affected rights, all in the province of A Coruña:

• CE 1789 San Antonio: 150 plots, Coristanco.
• CE 1790 Santa María: 117 P, Coristanco and Santa Comba.
• CE 1792 Oportuna: 458 P, Cabana de Bergantiños and Coristanco.
• CE 1801 Carballeira: 482 P, Coristanco and Santa Comba.
• CE 1802 Santa Bárbara: 695 P, Coristanco and Santa Comba.
• CE 1807 Carmen: 2,559 P, Coristanco and Santa Comba.
• CE 2912 Ampliación a Oportuna: 27 P, Coristanco.

In total, 4,488 mining plots (1 P equals 1 hectare). Geographical information is available in the viewer https://concursosdereitosmineiros.xunta.gal/, although the official information is that of the Energy and Mines Service of the territorial department of A Coruña. On the same date, the DOG published equivalent calls for expired rights in Lugo, Ourense, and Pontevedra, as well as for the municipal terms of Mesía, Lousame, and Ponteceso.

Two-month deadline and 10% bond

Applications must be submitted electronically through the Silex system of the Xunta de Galicia, addressed to the Territorial Department of the Ministry of Economy and Industry in A Coruña, within a period of two months from the day following the last publication in the DOG or in the Official State Gazette. Each application shall include two envelopes: envelope 1 with the legal documentation and proof of the provisional guarantee, and envelope 2 with the technical and economic documentation.

The provisional guarantee is equivalent to 10% of the mining rights fee of Law 6/2003, of December 9: €279.20 for the first grid and €11.96 for each of the remaining ones. Anyone who has had a right expire in the last five years due to regulatory non-compliance loses 10 points in the evaluation and, if the expiration resulted from the failure to fulfill their obligations, may not compete for that same right.

100-point scale and opening committee

The selection criteria are distributed across 100 points: up to 35 for technical aspects (experience, financial solvency, and project quality) and up to 65 for socioeconomic and environmental aspects (local hiring, industrial plan, permanent employment, Galician capital, environmental excellence, equality, and economic and social impact plan). The opening committee consists of the head of the territorial department of A Coruña as president, the head of the mining service as secretary, a lawyer from the Xunta de Galicia, the Delegated Audit Office, and a representative of the General Directorate of Energy Planning and Mines. The committee is constituted ten business days following the end of the deadline, and the competition must be resolved within a maximum of six months, with negative administrative silence.

Source: Official Gazette of Galicia (DOG), no. 193, of October 9, 2026, section III. Other provisions, p. 51941 (official reference: CVE-DOG: fmwumde4-hhg2-plx5-lib4-fvdvg5bl5et1).