Introduction: "Mining law in French Guiana"
Law No. 2026-403 of May 26, 2026 on the simplification of economic life does not, at first glance, specifically concern mining law in French Guiana.
Article 43, however, brings several important changes to the Mining Code, which came into force on May 28, 2026, some of which are of very direct interest to operators working in French Guiana.
This reform is part of a broader movement to transform mining law initiated by the "Climate and Resilience" law of August 22, 2021, continued by the ordinances of 2022 and then by several regulatory texts adopted in 2025.
After an initial phase largely devoted to modernizing and strengthening the environmental framework for mining activities, the legislator is now intervening with a different objective: to simplify certain procedures and reduce the overlap of authorizations, without calling into question the environmental requirements applicable to mining projects.
For Guyanese operators, three developments deserve particular attention: the simplification and securing of mining titles; the integration of the occupation of state domain into mining authorizations; and the redefinition of the role of the state domain manager, in particular the National Forestry Office (ONF).
- A valuation of mining securities more proportionate to the stakes
The first change concerns the regime applicable to exclusive exploration permits and concessions.
In the system resulting from the reforms of 2021 and 2022, the granting, renewal or extension of these titles was preceded by an environmental, economic and social analysis.
The law of May 26, 2026 now introduces a more nuanced distinction.
The new article L. 114-1 of the Mining Code provides that the granting, renewal and extension of a concession or an exclusive exploration permit are preceded by an analysis of environmental issues.
A full environmental, economic and social analysis is required only when the title defines the framework for projects likely to have significant environmental impacts.
The change is not merely terminological. It introduces a logic of proportionality between the level of education required and the significance of the potential impacts of the project.
When environmental, economic and social analysis remains necessary, it retains substantial content. It is based in particular on an environmental, economic and social report prepared by the applicant, on various consultations and on the examination, by the competent authority, of the information gathered.
The reform also streamlines the documents to be produced: the law of May 26, 2026 removes references to the old "environmental, economic and social feasibility study" and unifies the procedure around an environmental, economic and social report, for both research and exploitation.
The content of this report must be proportionate to the nature, importance and degree of precision of the project, as well as its foreseeable impacts and, as far as it is possible to anticipate them at this stage, its economic and social consequences.
The aim is therefore not to eliminate the analysis of the project's effects, but to simplify the documentary and procedural architecture enabling it to be carried out.
- Mining law in French Guiana: simplification and environmental assessment
This evolution of mining law in French Guiana must be considered in light of the recent case law of the Council of State.
In a case concerning three gold concessions located in French Guiana, the Council of State ruled that the decision to grant, extend or prolong a mining concession determines the general framework within which mining work may subsequently be carried out.
As such, it must be regarded as defining the framework for authorising and implementing projects within the meaning of Article L. 122-4 of the Environmental Code and be subject to an environmental assessment.
This decision helps to understand the balance sought by recent texts.
The mining title, which determines the framework within which a resource can be exploited, and the mining operations themselves, which may then be subject to specific environmental procedures, constitute two distinct levels.
The scope of this case law has been extended at the regulatory level.
A ministerial decree of April 3, 2025, subjected applications for concessions and exclusive research permits submitted before July 1, 2024, to environmental assessment. This decree having ceased to have effect on April 3, 2026, a new decree of April 1, 2026, ensured the continuity of this system.
The reform of May 26, 2026 therefore comes in a context of consolidation of the requirement for environmental assessment of mining titles.
There is no contradiction between these two movements.
On the one hand, the legislator seeks to simplify the documents and the sequence of procedures. On the other hand, the assessment of the environmental impacts of the framework within which future mining projects may be authorized remains necessary.
The reform should therefore be understood as a procedural and documentary simplification, and not as a reduction of environmental requirements.
- Exclusive research permits better protected against the risks of exploration
The law also addresses the duration of exclusive research permits.
The new article L. 142-2-1 of the Mining Code now allows, in the presence of exceptional circumstances linked to hazards in mining research independent of the holder and which have hindered the completion of the work program, for an exceptional extension of a permit beyond its maximum duration.
This extension can last up to three additional years, without further competitive bidding or reduction of the permit area.
For operators, and particularly in French Guiana where the execution of an exploration program can be affected by accessibility, logistical, climate constraints or various external hazards, this mechanism constitutes an additional safeguard.
However, this is not an automatic right to extension.
The operator will have to demonstrate the existence of exceptional circumstances, their independent nature and their actual impact on the execution of the research program.
The reform thus recognizes that the legal duration of a title cannot always be assessed independently of the material realities of mineral exploration.
The law also addresses the issue of overlapping titles. When the agreement of the holder of an existing title cannot be obtained under the conditions stipulated by law, the disagreement can now be resolved by the minister responsible for mines.
In both cases, the objective is similar: to prevent circumstances external to the operator or a blockage situation from permanently compromising a mining project.
- AEX: a significant simplification of mining law in French Guiana regarding access to state-owned land
However, it is in the area of AEX that the reform of mining law in French Guiana presents one of its main practical benefits.
The operating permit, commonly referred to as AEX, allows the exploitation of mineral substances under a regime distinct from that of the concession.
One of the difficulties encountered by operators lies in the articulation between mining authorization and the land control necessary for exploitation.
This question is of particular importance in French Guiana given the extent of the public domain and, above all, the private domain of the State.
Before the reform, the granting of the operating permit was subject, depending on the situation of the land, to the prior agreement of the owner or manager of the public or private domain concerned.
Since May 28, 2026, Article L. 611-2-3 of the Mining Code distinguishes between State domain and that of local authorities and private properties.
Prior agreement remains required when the operation concerns a private owner or the domain of a local authority.
On the other hand, the act granting an operating permit on the public or private domain of the State now constitutes, for the entire duration of the AEX, an authorization to occupy this domain.
The reform goes even further.
Article L. 611-1-2 provides that the mining title or the AEX must itself set the conditions of occupation of the area and the state royalty due to the manager.
Previously, these conditions of occupancy and remuneration were the subject of a separate contract concluded with the manager of the estate.
The reform therefore does not just eliminate a formality: it modifies the organization of the administrative chain allowing the operator to effectively access the land necessary for its activity.
In concrete terms: what does the reform change for an AEX on the state forest domain?
Until now, the operator had to coordinate the procedure for obtaining its AEX with the agreement of the manager of the state domain and the separate determination of the conditions under which it was authorized to occupy it.
Since May 28, 2026, the AEX must concentrate these different elements: it authorizes the operation, serves as authorization to occupy the State domain and sets the conditions of this occupation as well as the corresponding fee.
The domain manager retains a place in the instruction, but the operator no longer has to obtain, at the legislative level, an independent domain authorization in addition to its mining authorization.
This is probably one of the most concrete translations of the desire for simplification pursued by the legislator.
- The authorization for mining exploration in French Guiana follows the same logic
This same logic was adopted for theauthorization of mining research (ARM), a system specifically applicable in French Guiana.
Before the reform, the issuance of the ARM, after the initial application was put out to tender, was subject to the prior agreement of the department responsible for managing the public or private domain of the State.
Since May 28, 2026, Article L. 621-22 of the Mining Code provides that the ARM itself constitutes authorization to occupy the public or private domain of the State.
Its duration remains limited to two years.
The autonomous land agreement therefore also disappears, at the legislative level, for the ARM.
The same decision now allows the operator to obtain authorization to conduct mining research and to be authorized to occupy the state land necessary for its execution.
Along with the reform of the AEX, this is one of the developments with the most immediate potential impact on Guyanese operators.
- What role remains for the ONF after the reform in mining law in French Guiana?
The reform of mining law in French Guiana also leads to questions about the role now assigned to the ONF.
The removal of the prior agreement of the manager of the state domain does not mean that the National Forestry Office disappears from the examination of mining projects in French Guiana.
It is important here to distinguish what the texts now allow us to state from how the new architecture will actually be implemented.
On the first point, the Mining Code is clear: on state-owned land, the AEX now serves as authorization for occupation and the autonomous land agreement is no longer a legislative condition prior to its issuance.
However, the ONF retains a role in the processing of projects located in state-owned forests.
Decree No. 2025-853 of August 27, 2025, specifically provides for consultation when an AEX (Area of Exclusion) concerns such a forest. This consultation is subject to a one-month deadline, and if no response is received within this period, the opinion is deemed favorable.
The manager's prior autonomous agreement is therefore eliminated at the legislative level; his involvement in the project review is not.
The ONF also retains its own forestry expertise and its missions to monitor activities carried out in the forest, particularly with regard to land use, access, clearing, waste and restoration.
However, the question of the practical implementation of the new system remains open.
Since the conditions of occupancy and the fee must now be set in the title or the AEX themselves, it remains to be determined in particular according to what methods they will be drawn up and what the effective place of the ONF will be in this process.
The law does not detail this mechanism.
The reform can thus be analyzed as a shift from a system of successive authorizations to a more coordinated approach centered around the mining permit. However, this characterization describes the structure resulting from the combination of texts: its concrete implementation will now depend on administrative practice.
- An immediate difficulty: the 2025 decree still needs to be brought into line with the 2026 law
However, this evolution of mining law in French Guiana raises an immediate legal difficulty.
Several provisions of decree no. 2025-853 of August 27, 2025, necessarily prior to the law of May 26, 2026, continue to refer to mechanisms that the legislator has just modified.
The application file for AEX must therefore still, according to the regulatory text, include the written agreement of the assignee or manager when the land falls under the public or private domain of the State.
Even more significantly, the decree still provides for prior and binding approval from the manager of the state domain.
However, the new article L. 621-22 of the Mining Code has removed this condition of prior agreement at the legislative level and provided that the ARM itself constitutes authorization to occupy the domain.
These regulatory provisions will therefore need to be brought into line with the new law.
In accordance with the hierarchy of norms, a regulatory provision cannot legally maintain a condition incompatible with legislative provisions that came into force subsequently.
Pending this harmonization, the provisions of the decree must therefore be interpreted in light of the new law and, where an incompatibility cannot be resolved by interpretation, the legislative standard must prevail.
However, this situation must be distinguished from the simple consultation of the ONF, which remains compatible with the new architecture as long as it no longer gives it an autonomous power of authorization or refusal.
Therefore, in the aftermath of the reform, there is a normative transition phase which operators will have to take into account in their files.
The way in which the administration will actually apply these provisions before the decree is adapted will be one of the first tests of the effectiveness of the simplification.
- Simplification does not mean deregulation of mining law in French Guiana
This simplification must finally be placed within the broader movement of transformation of the Mining Code.
The regulatory texts adopted in 2025 have simultaneously strengthened or clarified several obligations applicable to operators.
The decree of August 27, 2025 stipulates in particular that holders of an operating permit must provide financial guarantees for the entire duration of the permit.
Mining operations also remain subject to requirements arising from environmental law, rules relating to site restoration, and specific provisions applicable to mining activities in French Guiana.
The decision of the Council of State of July 12, 2024 and the texts that followed it also recall that the environmental assessment can take place as early as the mining title stage, independently of the procedures that will then be necessary to authorize the works.
The overall logic of the reform thus becomes clearer.
The legislator is not so much seeking to reduce the requirements on mining projects as to reduce the number and complexity of the procedures used to enforce them.
Simplifying the authorization process therefore does not mean easing the operator's obligations once the activity is authorized.
- What about the cases already underway?
The issue of transitional law finally deserves the attention of operators.
For applications for the granting, renewal or extension of exclusive exploration permits or concessions filed between July 1, 2024 and May 26, 2026, Article 43 of the law allows the petitioner to choose between the application of Article L. 114-2 as amended by Ordinance No. 2022-1423 of November 10, 2022 and that resulting from the law of May 26, 2026.
However, no comparable transitional provision has been specifically made for AEX and ARM.
For applications that were still being processed when the law came into effect, the new legislative framework is intended to be taken into consideration for decisions made after May 28, 2026. The administration therefore no longer appears to be able to make the granting of the authorization conditional on an independent land agreement, the principle of which has been abolished by the law.
When the manager's agreement had already been obtained, it naturally remains an element of the file without necessarily retaining the qualification of an autonomous legal condition of the decision to be made.
The situation is different when the AEX or ARM had already been issued or when a domain occupancy agreement had already been concluded.
The law does not provide for the automatic disappearance or termination of these acts. They therefore continue to produce their effects in accordance with their stipulations and duration, subject to any modifications, extensions, or renewals that may occur subsequently under the new regime.
This temporary coexistence between old authorizations, existing agreements and the new system will therefore have to be examined on a case-by-case basis.
This simplification now needs to be confirmed in practice
Conclusion: "For operators, this reform of mining law in French Guiana therefore constitutes a significant development.
It secures certain titles, streamlines the evaluation that accompanies their issuance and, above all, integrates the occupation of state land more fully into the mining procedure itself, particularly for AEX and ARM.
It does not eliminate environmental and forestry requirements, nor the involvement of the land manager, nor the control of mining activity. Rather, it seeks to prevent the protection of these interests from resulting in a series of independent permits when these can be integrated into a more coordinated procedure.
It now remains to be seen what the concrete effect of this reform will be.
The key question will be whether the simplification intended by the legislator is actually reflected in administrative practices and, above all, in the timeframes faced by mining operators in French Guiana.
ARST Avocats assists economic operators in the analysis and securing of their projects and activities in French Guiana, particularly in their relations with the various public and private stakeholders.
