The national government is working to revitalize the Mining Investment Law (Law 24,196), a historic regime now over three decades old, which is preparing for a substantial update through a Regulatory Decree presented — in broad terms — during the closing session of PANORAMA MINERO’s Argentina Oro, Plata y Cobre Seminar.
By Panorama Minero
The reform seeks deep “de-bureaucratization and administrative simplification”, with the central goal of strengthening the regime for projects that, due to their characteristics or timing, will not enter the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI). At the same time, it aims to ensure the strategic coexistence of both frameworks.
The future of the Law and the RIGI, as well as how the two regimes will interact, was analyzed by María Eugenia Bais, National Director of Mining Investments, along with project evaluation specialists Tay Such and Daniel Jeréz, who provided both public and private perspectives on the regulatory framework designed to attract investment to the industry.
Bais outlined the changes intended to eliminate discretion and the “high level of non-compliance” that characterized the sector in previous years. She emphasized that “the Mining Investment Law and the RIGI will not be mutually exclusive, but complementary,” noting that the Ley Bases allows this as long as the benefits chosen “are not of the same nature and do not overlap.”
The Ministry of Economy is currently defining the parameters that will govern this coexistence, particularly for projects that have been under Law 24,196 for years and may choose to adhere to the RIGI.
The Director highlighted the essential differences that justify the continuity of the existing law, explaining that the RIGI is designed “to incentivize a specific investment so that the project can be built and put into operation,” granting enhanced benefits such as 30-year fiscal, foreign-exchange, tax, and customs stability. Previously, stability under the Mining Investment Law only applied to projects with approved Pre-feasibility.
Law 24,196, in full force since the 1990s, retains benefits not covered by the RIGI—such as the double deduction of Income Tax—which requires careful planning when applying the Ley Bases article stating that adherence to the RIGI does not imply renouncing pre-existing promotional regimes.
“Far from losing relevance, the Mining Investment Law is once again drawing interest,” Bais noted, stressing that “the regime will endure, but it must be strengthened and regain the seriousness it once had.” She added that many smaller-scale projects will not enter the RIGI and will rely entirely on Law 24,196 for investment incentives.
A major transformation will come through a regulatory overhaul aimed at eliminating bureaucratic processes that enabled discretion, and moving toward a “strong unification of criteria”. Historically, the sector criticized the fact that an application’s outcome could vary depending on the official handling it.
These changes, described by Bais as a “major quality leap,” will be reflected in the regulatory decree and will include modifications to the import regime, the VAT refund regime, the amortization regime, environmental harmonization with relevant ministries, and adjustments to mandatory annual affidavits.
The ongoing adaptations — which imply deregulation and simplification — “do not mean a lack of oversight, but oversight exercised differently,” Bais clarified. She explained that the reform will change how audits are conducted, shifting toward on-site evaluations to assess projects from a legal and concrete standpoint, rather than purely on paperwork.
Finally, new legal informatics tools will be implemented to register all project records, providing reliable information and preventing the inclusion of any data without documentary support.
