The Min­istry of En­er­gy and En­er­gy In­dus­tries has is­sued “Hold Over” let­ters to 25 bona fide op­er­a­tors in the min­er­als sec­tor, al­low­ing them to con­tin­ue min­ing and pro­cess­ing ac­tiv­i­ties while await­ing the re­new­al of ex­pired li­cences.

In a me­dia re­lease is­sued, the min­istry said the let­ters were grant­ed on May 22, 2026, to op­er­a­tors with cur­rent­ly ac­tive op­er­a­tions whose min­ing and pro­cess­ing li­cences have ex­pired and are un­der re­view for re­new­al.

Ac­cord­ing to the min­istry, the tem­po­rary ap­provals will per­mit op­er­a­tors to con­tin­ue func­tion­ing un­der the same terms and con­di­tions as their pre­vi­ous li­cences for a pe­ri­od of one year while the re­new­al ap­pli­ca­tions are processed.