According to Brazilian legislation, in order to legitimately explore and exploit a Reserve, a company should obtain, with no prejudice to the environmental licenses and further administrative authorizations, the following documentation:

Research Authorization Certification 

Should it wish to study the mining potential of a given area, the company should submit a request to the DNPM requesting authorization of the said body for performing research in the area. The Research Authorization Certification is to have a validity of no less  than a year and no more than three, extendable at the DNPM’s discretion. During the certification’s validity, its holder shall be entitled to search economically viable reserves in the area.

Carving Concession Ordinance 

Once the economic viability of found reserves has been demonstrated to the DNPM, the industrial exploitation of the deposit, from the extraction of useful mineral substances it may contain up to their refining shall depend on the awarding of the concession by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (Ministro de Estado de Minas e Energia), via the issuance of a Carving Concession Ordinance (Portaria de Concessão de Lavra), an instrument allowing the economic exploitation of the reserves and refining.