Plenty of countries are natural resource rich and do not run into major issues.<p>Canada, the US, Australia, and yes - Norway, all come to mind. Usually, the factor that enables a country to resist corruption from natural resources comes from having a proper governance system already in place.<p>Even something that many perceive as trivial, like tax collection, is essential. Because what often happens is, a nation will not collect taxes and instead say they will let the riches from natural resources trickle down to the citizenry. This enables dictatorships/political elites to remain entrenched at their expense.<p>You also need government agencies in place to make sure that surveys are being conducted properly so that the auction process can be optimized.<p>I remember a story about an African nation that needed to auction off mining rights. Their data was well over 100 years old, whereas some MNC mining companies had state of the art testing, as a result there was asymmetrical information that worked against their government.<p>One way to circumvent that lack of information is to auction permits in a rolling manner. So you auction off the ability to only mine in one small area. Then, if there is a discovery, you can raise initial prices for future permits in the surrounding area.