How big the sector is
For 2025, 128 mining and quarrying companies filed financial statements, up from 121 a year earlier. They employ 1,755 people and had sales revenue of 1.8 billion lei. Almost all of them, 126, are in division 08, which covers stone, sand, gravel and clay quarries. The other two are support services companies, with no employees and no sales in 2025. The published data does not show oil, gas or metal ores separately.
Mining and quarrying output in 2025 was 1.6 billion lei, 1.7% of all industrial output. Almost all of it stays in the country: only 2.9% of deliveries were exported. Quarries produced 3.96 million tonnes of gravel and pebbles, 16% more than in 2024, 2.46 million tonnes of sand, 1.45 million tonnes of building and dimension stone, 30% more, and 174,000 tonnes of clay.
The average gross monthly wage in mining and quarrying in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 14,908 lei. In manufacturing it was 14,025 lei, and the average for the whole economy 16,355 lei.
What paperwork is required
The subsoil and everything in it are the exclusive property of the state. Subsoil plots are not sold, only granted for use, and what you extract becomes yours under the subsoil use permit. The Environment Agency issues it free of charge through the one-stop shop, and a single permit can cover both exploration and extraction. Since 29 May 2026, the Environment Agency has been the competent authority for the subsoil, replacing the Agency for Geology and Mineral Resources.
Alongside the permit come the environmental documents and, where there is blasting, the safety documents. Every quarry goes through an environmental impact assessment and receives an environmental consent. Extraction then operates under an environmental permit, which is required for every class in mining and quarrying, with no capacity threshold. The financial guarantee for environmental restoration is put in place before the permit is issued. If explosives are used in the quarry, blasting needs a clearance from the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision and a company licensed for explosives.
Only two activities need a licence in the strict sense: natural gas production, from ANRE, and work with explosives, from the Public Services Agency.
The deposit: a tender or exploration at your own expense
Only a deposit whose reserves have been assessed, approved and entered in the State Geological Register may be worked. For sand, clay and building stone, which the code calls widespread minerals, the right is obtained through a public tender, organised by the Environment Agency under a procedure set by the Government. Tender notices and results are published in Monitorul Oficial and on the agency’s website. For a deposit put out to tender, the Environment Agency itself commissions the environmental impact assessment, through public procurement.
The tender does not apply when the geological exploration was paid for by the applicant. The route is then different: you apply for a geological exploration permit, without a tender and with the landowners’ consent, carry out the work and put the reserves through an assessment by the State Commission on Mineral Reserves. If the state explored the deposit with public money, the permit holder reimburses the state’s costs, indexed for inflation.
For minerals of national importance, whose list the Government approves, the right of use is transferred by a Government decision.
The permit is obtained in two steps. First you submit the application, with information on financial resources, equipment and specialists, an explanatory note, the technical design for working the deposit, the environmental restoration plan and the decision on the environmental consent. Within 30 days the Environment Agency issues a decision to grant or refuse the permit.
After the decision you have 90 days to provide proof of the financial guarantee for environmental restoration, the landowner’s consent or your own title deed, and the decision changing the land’s designated use. The permit is issued within a further 30 days. Mine development of the deposit must start within the deadlines in the technical design, and no later than 12 months after the permit is issued. You must notify the town hall 10 working days before work begins.
The technical design is prepared by a design organisation with certified designers, only after the environmental impact assessment, and is agreed with the Environment Agency within 30 days at most. The mine design is also checked as required by the industrial safety law and the Urban Planning and Construction Code. How notifications to the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision work for concrete and building materials producers is explained on the industrial manufacturing page.
The financial guarantee and land restoration
The guarantee covers restoring the environment after extraction. The cost of the work is calculated in the technical design, in proportion to the area affected and the volume extracted, updated every year for inflation and agreed with the Environment Agency. The guarantee is put in place for the first year when the permit is issued and updated in the last month of each year, as a bank guarantee, an insurance policy or a special account. Since 29 May 2026, the holder also pays 0.25% of the guarantee’s value every year into an account opened by the Environment Agency, which funds the restoration of land left unrestored.
The fertile topsoil is stripped and stored in full for reclamation. When extraction ends, the excavations are closed or preserved at the holder’s expense, under a design agreed with the Environment Agency, and the land is reclaimed. Workings that keep the extraction running, such as excavations, wells and mine survey markers, are state property. Inert waste and unpolluted soil from quarries do not need the separate permit for extractive waste facilities.
The Tax Code levies a tax on the volume extracted, with a rate for each type of mineral. For sand and gravel, building stone and limestone for lime, the rate is between 12 and 15 lei per m³. Clay for bricks and tiles is taxed at 15 lei per m³, clay for ceramics at 18 lei, limestone cut into wall blocks at 21 lei and natural facing stone at 48 lei per m³. Gypsum and bentonite clay are taxed at 21 lei per tonne, and oil at 150 lei per tonne.
The company calculates the tax itself for each half-year, from the volume extracted and the applicable rate, excluding losses in the extraction process and in the safety pillars provided for in the design. The return is filed electronically with the State Tax Service, and the tax is paid by the 25th of the month after the half-year: half to the local budget, half to the state budget. Failing to pay the subsoil use taxes for two tax periods can lead to the permit being withdrawn.
What comes after the quarry opens
The holder extracts only within the boundaries of the plot and in line with the approved design. It draws up annual mine development plans, agreed with the Environment Agency, keeps geological and mine survey records and reports every year on changes in reserves. It employs or contracts certified specialists in geology, geodesy and surveying. It informs the agency within 10 days of any inspection by other authorities. Mining supervision and geological control are carried out by the Environmental Protection Inspectorate.
The permit cannot be sold. The rights under it pass to another legal entity only with the agency’s approval, and only when the holder changes its legal form or name, merges or splits. The permit is suspended for up to 12 months if the holder fails to carry out the inspectorate’s order within 90 days, departs from the design or does not maintain the financial guarantee. It is withdrawn, among other reasons, if the plot stays unused for more than 60 consecutive days without the agency’s consent.
Explosives in the quarry
Work with explosives is carried out only by a legal entity licensed by the Public Services Agency, with compliant storage facilities and at least one shotfirer on staff. The licence has no expiry and costs 3,250 lei. Blasting also needs a clearance from the National Inspectorate for Technical Supervision, issued free of charge within three days: valid for three days for a single blast or 36 months for multiple blasts. The file contains the blasting contract, a topographic plan with the danger zones and the order appointing the person in charge. Every 12 months the holder resubmits the documents, and without them the clearance ceases to have effect. Blasting must also be agreed with the town hall. The explosives licence and the rules for storage facilities are explained on the industrial manufacturing page.
Oil and natural gas
Prospecting, exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons are permitted only in geographical areas designated and made public by the Ministry of Environment. The Environment Agency announces the tender in Monitorul Oficial, with the area, the submission deadline and the required legal form, and holds it 90 days later. The winner’s file contains the feasibility study, the technical design, the environmental restoration plan, the environmental consent and the concession contract. The agency submits the proposal to the Government within 30 days, and the Government decides.
For gas, once the plot has been granted, the building permits and the production licence from ANRE follow. How gas suppliers and traders work is explained on the energy company page. Groundwater also falls under the Subsoil Code, and the rules for wells and bottling are on the water and sewerage page.
For a quarry, the usual form is the SRL, which pays 12% income tax and whose liability is limited to the company’s own assets. The Subsoil Code gives foreign persons the same rights as Moldovan ones, and the gas production licence and the explosives licence are issued only to a legal entity. If you sell stone, sand or gravel to construction companies, the construction company page shows what documents your buyers hold.
We choose the CAEM codes, draft the articles of association, file the application with the Public Services Agency and open the bank account. We prepare the applications for the subsoil use permit, the environmental consent and the environmental permit. For a foreign company, we register its company in Moldova. We can take over the accounting, including the half-yearly extraction tax returns, from the first month. What each service includes is on the corporate services page.
