Permitting for Critical Minerals

Mining permitting is increasingly important as demand for critical minerals grows to support the global energy transition. Drawing on case studies from North America, South America, Australia, Asia, and Africa, this report examines causes of permitting delays and approaches to address them. It provides practical “Do” and “Don’t” tools across three areas:

• internal process tools for planning, coordinating, resourcing, and auditing,
• regulatory framework tools to define timelines and processes that are risk-based and streamlined, and
• external process tools to meet the needs of proponents and communities. Governments can analyze their mine-permitting system and choose the tools most relevant to their challenges, goals, and available resources.