Riverbed and sea sand mining is today’s most scrutinised minerals segment: on one side, enormous fill demand from infrastructure projects; on the other, riverbank erosion, coastal retreat and fisher livelihoods. Licensing here is therefore not only a minerals licence — it stacks water-resource, sea-area and specific environmental layers. This article sets out the special permit system for riverbed and seabed mining and the points on which files are most often returned.
The stacked permit system for riverbed and seabed mining
- The minerals layer — riverbed sand, sea sand and coastal titanium placers are minerals under Law on Geology and Minerals 54/2024/QH15: exploration and mining licences, reserve approval and planning conformity are required; sea sand currently operates under pilot and special-control mechanisms given hard-to-reverse marine impacts.
- The watercourse layer (riverbed): in-river mining must not erode banks, obstruct navigation channels or harm irrigation works — the file needs flow, sedimentation impact assessment and depth/distance-to-bank limits under water-resource management and irrigation-work protection rules.
- The sea-area layer (seabed) — Law on Marine and Island Resources and Environment 82/2015/QH13 and Decree 11/2021/ND-CP on assigning sea areas: seabed mining needs an assigned sea area, conformity with marine spatial planning and no overlap with marine reserves, traditional fishing grounds or shipping lanes.
- The environmental layer: EIA for sea/riverbed sand sits in the strictest appraisal group because of cumulative impacts (downstream erosion, turbidity, loss of accretion banks); the environmental licence carries continuous monitoring conditions and stop-work triggers when thresholds are exceeded.
Preparing a riverbed/seabed mining file
- Baseline survey before licensing: hydrology, bottom topography, current erosion status and fishing grounds — this baseline feeds the EIA and protects the operator as evidence in later erosion claims.
- Run three procedures in coordinated parallel: the minerals licence, sea-area assignment (offshore) or riverbed-management conformity (in-river), and the EIA — sequenced so the EIA is not written on unapproved coordinates.
- Design self-monitoring operating conditions: real-time vessel positioning, volume limits by flood season and fish breeding season, and a compensation fund for directly affected fishers — self-proposed conditions often become the licence’s final conditions.
Riverbed and seabed mining is hard not because of paperwork volume but because every cubic metre taken has a visible affected party. The file that passes appraisal is the one proving with data that impacts stay within limits — and that the operator has a mechanism to stop itself when they do not.
Frequently asked questions
Is sea sand mining allowed?
It is allowed within planned areas under the current special-control mechanism, with a minerals licence under Law 54/2024/QH15, a sea-area assignment decision under Decree 11/2021/ND-CP and an approved EIA — not a free activity at sea.
What permits does coastal titanium mining need?
Titanium is a metal mineral (coastal placer): Group I exploration licence, reserve approval and mining licence, plus an EIA addressing coastal sand rehabilitation and tailings that may carry associated radioactive elements.
What if seabed mining affects fishers?
The operator must assess fishing-ground impacts in the EIA, notify area and schedule, and compensate actual damage to directly affected fishers (lost grounds, damaged gear) under the Civil Code and environmental-file commitments.
Why are riverbed sand files often returned?
Common causes: missing baseline data on erosion and hydrology, coordinates overlapping riverbank/irrigation protection corridors, and a mining-depth plan that cannot prove no bank erosion — all baseline-survey issues, not form issues.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council
