Are considered to be mines, those deposits known as containing mineral or fossil substances other than liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons. As regards the rights of persons and the rights of the State, it is specified:

• Any natural person or body corporate having the required technical qualifications and financial capability to successfully conduct exploration, is allowed to undertake prospecting work for the reconnaissance of mineral signs or substances to develop a mine or a quarry;
• Any natural person or body corporate of Guinean law, whether public or private who gives proof of technical skills and financial capacity to undertake the exploitation applied for, or is duly authorized to engage in semi-industrial or artisanal mining, is allowed to extract mineral substances from mines and quarries under conditions set forth in the Code;
• The government may undertake any mining or quarry operations on its own, either directly or through a public agency acting alone or in partnership with third parties.
• The right to engage in mining or quarry operations can be acquired only in accordance with the following mining or quarry licenses:

Mining Licenses:
• Reconnaissance permit
• Artisanal mining authorization
• Mining prospection license
• Mining exploitation license
• Mining concession

Quarry Licenses:
• Authorization for quarry prospecting
• Authorization for quarry development

As for the mining convention, the Code specifies the following:

Licenses for industrial-scale mining and for a mining concession are subject to mining conventions of which models are determined by a Presidential decree.

The mining convention defines the rights and obligations of the parties with regard to legal, financial, fiscal and social arrangements applicable to the operation during the life duration of the convention. The stability of these conditions is guaranteed by such covenants.

In the case of public participation along with third parties in the shareholding of one or more mining or quarry operations, the type and means of the government's participation are expressly defined in advance in the convention accompanying the mining exploitation or the mining concession license.

The mining convention is signed by the Minister in charge of the mining sector and by the prospective developer or his duly authorized representative; it is enforceable and binding upon the parties after its approval by a Presidential decree in the case of a mining exploitation license or after ratification in the case of a mining concession.

Upon the coming into effect of the mining convention, no valid modification can be made without the prior written consent of the parties which will come into force only in compliance with the procedure.

Mining or quarry operations must be conducted in an environmentally-friendly way.