The exploration permit shall be issued to a legal person under Cameroonian law by the minister in charge of mines, for the purposes of conducting exploration works to locate and evaluate mineral deposits and to determine conditions for the commercial mining thereof.
The exploration permit shall be issued for an initial maximum period of 3 (three) years. It may be renewed no more than 3 (three) times, each renewal not exceeding 2 (two) years.
No person shall be issued more than 5 (five) exploration permits.
The area of land over which an exploration permit may be issued shall not exceed 500 km2 (five hundred square kilometres) or its equivalent in number of cadastral units. The exploration perimeter shall comprise a single block, marked out under the terms and conditions laid down by regulation.
Applicants for an exploration permit shall propose a works schedule and a corresponding budget which shall be approved by the minister in charge of mines under the terms and conditions laid down by regulation.
The holder of an exploration permit may, if need be, request a change of the current works schedule, in accordance with the conditions laid down by regulation.
The holder of an exploration permit shall start exploration works in the area covered by the permit within a maximum period of 9 (nine) months with effect from the date of notification of the permit. After this deadline, the minister in charge of mines shall issue him a formal notice through any means in writing.