Congress decision puts and end to a 10-month tenure during which Regina Lopez ordered the closure of more than half the country's mines and banned open-pit mining.
Industrial and precious metals, coal, oil, as well as natural gas, collectively accounted for just 6.2% of foreign direct investment into the continent last year.
An autonomous region of Papua New Guinea has lifted a ban on mining that has been in place since 1971 - but it will not allow the restart of the controversial Panguna copper mine which has been the source of deadly internal strife.
The Perth-based miner has agreed to purchase 45 million shares of the Canadian junior at a price of $2.45 per share, or about 15% of Arizona Mining’s outstanding shares.