Court of Appeals for Civil, Commercial and Mining Matters of the Second Judicial Circumscription of the Province of Río Negro, 04/10/2013, “Poli Carmen v. Mining Department, Ministry of Economy, Province of Río Negro et al in re: Ordinary Administrati

The plaintiff filled a lawsuit against the Province of Río Negro for damages derived from the revocation of a mining concession. The court rejected the request, based on the following:

1. The quarry was granted by the Mining Department to the plaintiff without noticing that a third party had already acquired the field where the quarry is located;
2. When the Mining Department granted the quarry to the plaintiff, the latter was not entitled to the lands in which the quarry is located, provided that a third party had already acquired ownership of the real estate (up to then, property of the Provincial Tax Authority) and registered the transfer with the Real Estate Registry. Consequently, the administration did not have the legal right to transfer the property, given the fact that it did not own it; and
3. The plaintiff had not filed the Environmental Impact Report, which is an indispensable condition to begin works at the quarry, and therefore, was not in condition to mine it.