The Xunta adds seven expired mining rights to the Coruña tender

The Department of Economy and Industry corrected the Order of October 7, 2026, by which lands are declared free and a public competition is convened for the granting of research permits on expired mining rights in the province of A Coruña. The correction adds seven mining rights to Annex I of the call and a clarifying note regarding the Santa Comba area. It is published in the Official Gazette of Galicia number 202, of October 23, 2026, in section III (Other provisions), pages 53453 to 53455, with the official reference CVE-DOG: xrrf78n6-fi26-zi34-dz02-f0zjt8cgisp5.

The original order was published in the DOG number 193, of October 9, 2026 (p. 52053 and following, reference CVE-DOG: ihgjc1z6-2it2-g8j5-lrw2-bwtvkj5as7j9), in which 22 expired mining rights in A Coruña were already declared free. The correction does not alter the rules or the evaluation criteria: it limits its action to pages 52055 and 52056, corresponding to Annex I, where seven research permits and the note on Santa Comba were missing.

Seven more rights in Annex I

The added rights are all research permits (PI) measured in mining plots, with an equivalence of one plot per hectare, and are located in the municipalities of Coristanco, Santa Comba, and Cabana de Bergantiños:

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

Together, the seven total 4,488 mining plots. With this incorporation, Annex I goes from 22 to 29 expired mining rights subject to the competition. The correction also unifies the naming of the fractions, which now appear without an intervening comma (for example, “Tercera Sonsoles Fracción 1ª” instead of “Tercera Sonsoles, fracción 1ª”).

Clarifying note on Santa Comba

The second novelty is a note added to the bottom of Annex I: regarding the Carmen, Santa María, and Carballeira rights, the mining grids appearing on the website enabled by the Xunta for these competitions may be requested as research permits, except for those marked in green in the warning section titled “Important information about the Santa Comba area,” in the vertex consultation tab. The official information for the competition continues to be that which is held by the Energy and Mines Service of the Territorial Department of the Department of Economy and Industry in A Coruña.

Deadlines, bonds, and criteria that remain in effect

The rules of the competition, contained in Annex II of the original order, maintain the submission period of two months counted from the day following the last publication of the resolution, whether in the DOG or in the Official State Gazette. Applications must be submitted electronically through the Electronic Tendering System of the Xunta de Galicia (Silex), addressed to the A Coruña territorial department.

The requirements include:

• Provisional guarantee of 10% of the fee corresponding to applications for mining rights.
• Two envelopes, one for legal capacity and solvency and another for technical and economic documentation.
• Limit of fifteen mining grids per permit, except for justified exceptions (Article 28 of Law 3/2008).
• Scoring scale of 100 points: 40 technical and 60 socioeconomic and environmental, with at least 40% reserved for social and ethical quality (Article 20 of Law 2/2024).
• Resolution of the competition within a maximum period of six months.

The opening committee is chaired by the head of the territorial department of A Coruña and includes the head of the mining service, a lawyer from the Xunta, the Delegated Intervention, and a representative of the General Directorate of Energy Planning and Mines. The order is signed by Pablo Fernández Vila, General Director of Energy Planning and Mines, by delegation of the counselor (Order of November 4, 2024).

Affected Municipalities

With the correction, the competition covers land in 23 municipalities: As Pontes de García Rodríguez, A Capela, Oroso, Frades, Mesía, Ordes, O Pino, Santiago de Compostela, Trazo, Tordoia, Vedra, Boqueixón, A Estrada, Carballo, Coristanco, Santa Comba, Cabana de Bergantiños, Friol, Palas de Rei, Melide, Toques, San Sadurniño, and Moeche. The rights with the largest surface area in municipal lands are concentrated on the As Pontes-A Capela axis, while those now added shift part of the interest toward the Bergantiños coast and the Xallas region.

The correction is relevant for the mining sector because it substantially expands the surface area at stake in a competition resolved by competitive bidding, and for the affected municipalities because it reactivates expectations regarding land with expired rights, including the surroundings of Santa Comba, where the Xunta itself delimits zones excluded from the application.

Source: Official Gazette of Galicia, no. 202, October 23, 2026, section III, pp. 53453-53455 (official reference: CVE-DOG: xrrf78n6-fi26-zi34-dz02-f0zjt8cgisp5).