Hi all, see below latest article from Hoy, published overnight...

Hi all, see below latest article from Hoy, published overnight which clarifies somewhat the two recent court decisions. (Doing this from the mobile, sorry if formatting isn't great)

The company that promotes the lithium mine and treatment plant in Cáceres will be able to carry out new research tasks with surveys in 475 hectares of the Valdeflores area. It is an area with a lower degree of protection than the rest, and therefore is not affected by the prohibition of extractive activity included in the municipal urban planning plan. This is established in a sentence issued last wee k by the Contentious-Administrative Court number 1 of Cáceres, which dismisses an appeal filed by an individual against the research permit called 'Amplification Valdeflorez', granted by the Board in December 2020 for a land other than where the lithium deposit is located, and in which the company intends to locate "industrial and auxiliary facilities" for the underground exploitation of the mine.The company Tecnologia Extremeña del Litio (TEL), a subsidiary of Infinity Lithium, registered at the time two requests for research permits, one called 'Valdeflorez' for the mining grids where the deposit is located, and another 'Amplification Valdeflorez' for a piece of land adjacent and much larger, covering 1,329 hectares. The 'Valdeflorez permit was denied by the Board in April 2021 on the grounds that the Cáceres urban planning plan prohibits extractive activity on the land affected by that request, a decision that last December was ratified by the Contentious Court- Administrative number 1 in a car that the company has already announced that it has appealed.permission with restrictionsThe ruling now issued by that same court refers to the other permit, 'Valdeflorez Expansion', which was granted by the Board to TEL in December 2021, but with many restrictions because the polls and test pits cannot be carried out at 1,329 hectares requested by the company, but only in the 475 that have a lower degree of protection. In the rest, research is allowed but only through non-invasive techniques, such as geophysical, photo-interpretation or satellite techniques. Several administrative appeals were filed against this concession, which the regional executive rejected. Now the judicial appeal presented by an individual is also dismissed.The ruling recalls that the 'Valdeflorez Expansion' permit granted by the Board already included the limitations proposed by the Cáceres City Council in its allegations to the file, since in fact the mining grids located on Non-Developable Land for the Protection of Mountain Forest Masses in grade 2 (SNUP-M2), where extractive activity is not allowed. In other words, the company will not be able to intervene in places such as the old San José mine, the summit of Cerro Milano or the foothills of the Sierra de Portanchitn the other hand, according to the sentence, in that same municipal report it was indicated that the extractive activity is compatible with the areas classified as Undeveloped Land of Protection LLanos (SNUP-Ll), Dehesa (SNUP-D) and Mountain in grade 1 , provided that the corresponding municipal and environmental licenses and permits are obtained. The judge therefore points out that "the mining administration could not deny the investigation permit due to its urban incompatibility."The ruling also indicates that the planned boreholes are located more than two kilometers from urban land, and that the conditions of the research permit granted indicate that "in the event of undertaking mining work that involves carrying out work with heavy machinery ( mechanical surveys and/or test pits) within protected areas or the construction of new tracks or access roads or substantial modification of the existing ones, the corresponding environmental document must be submitted to an abbreviated environmental evaluation.”The developer company has argued for its part that "the execution of the planned surveys will not even require clearing, earthworks or large earthworks." He assures that "only the pre-existing roads will be cleared, as well as the drilling platforms that were made years ago in the place to investigate the San José mine site."The judicial resolution also says that the appellant has not provided "any evidence" that the authorized investigation tasks will affect the groundwater in the area.The sentence is not final and an appeal can be filed within 15 days.The company appeals the denial of 'Valdeflorez'Extremadura New Energies (ENE), the firm under which Infinity Lithium now operates for the Cáceres mining project, has announced that it has appealed before the Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura (TSJEx) the first instance ruling known in December that endorses that the Board will deny the 'Valdeflorez' research permit, which directly affects the land where the lithium deposit is located and where it intends to build the treatment plant.In relation to the most recent sentence made public this Monday, the one that confirms the research permit 'Amplification Valdeflorez', the CEO of ENE, Ramón Jiménez, considers that "it ratifies the urban compatibility of the work in the area of expansion of Valdeflórez and it supports the option chosen for the exploitation concession application, which represents an important support for the processing that the company has been working on in recent weeks“.For the area in which the lithium deposit that ENE intends to exploit through underground galleries is located, and for which the investigation permit has been rejected, the company has announced that it plans to use an "exploration permit" that it requested in its moment with the name 'Extremadura', which once granted would allow it to directly request the exploitation license, as established by the Mining Law for deposits that are considered viable and sufficiently known