National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk, Russia:
G. Yu. Boyarko, Head of a Department, Doctor of Economic Sciences, e-mail: gub@tpu.ru
Ya. V. Zolotenkov, Senior Lecturer

Under analysis is the state-of-the-art control over exploration and extraction of transboundary hydrocarbons and hard minerals occurring in the territory of two or more adjoining countries, in different administrative districts inside a country as well as in adjacent subsoil and mining leases of private owners. The article gives numerous examples of transboundary mineral deposits and highlights topical issues, contradictions and conflicts in the systems of management and control over safe and efficient mining. The authors propose regulatory, organizational and legislation solutions aimed to improve subsoil use and economic activities at transboundary mineral deposits. In particular, it is proposed to integrate legal regulations with obligation of a transboundary deposit development by a single company–operator either based on unitization of interests of subsoil use subjects or based on consolidation of the entire deposit under a single subsoil user who is to compensate involving expenses and lost advantage to former subsoil uses of individual sites of the deposit. When unitizing interests, the major problems are concurrence of interests of two or more subsoil users, distribution of shares in a newly constituted legal body, re-registration of rights in subsoil to a newly constituted legal body. Consolidation of a deposit needs significant improvement of the effective legislation on the subsoil. It is required to develop a procedure for the subsoil area delimitation and appraisal; to define ownership of the subsoil area; to elaborate rules for compensation of involving expenses of former subsoil users for geological exploration and arrangement of mining infrastructure as well as lost advantage of the former subsoil users due to assignment of rights to develop a part of the deposit to another person. Solution of these problems requires amending the Russian Federation Law on the Subsoil and some subordinate acts passed in elaboration of the law, and enacting new subordinate acts.

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