The decision on the mine will be decided in the next term in the...

The decision on the mine will be decided in the next term in the Board and the city council, which will come out of the polls on May 28. The company intends to present during this summer, before August, all the documentation proving the presence of lithium in Valdeflores, as a result of the exploration permit granted in March by the general management of Mines. Also during the summer it has the intention of delivering all the studies to qualify for the exploitation authorization. From that moment on, the feasibility of this action is decided. The exploration permit was granted for a period of one year, the company would have until March 2024 to present its conclusions, but it will do so before to move to the next phase: to process the obtaining of the authorization to exploit the deposit.Although the initiative is processed as a business project of autonomous interest, which shortens administrative deadlines, it is difficult for there to be a resolution before a year. To obtain the exploitation authorization, the company must provide an environmental impact study, which is presented as the key to the final decision, an exploitation plan, a land restoration project with the guarantees that give guarantees and a document that accredits the economic viability of the action. In other previous procedures, and it is understood that in this one too, all the documentation is subject to a period of public information, in which all those who do not agree with what is exposed (in this project due to its volume the interested party is the whole city) can allege, claims that in case of dismissal can result in appeals before the court, which is expected to have them.This week the Ministry for the Ecological Transition has sent the scope document to the company with considerations that must be taken into account in the drafting of the environmental impact study. In it, as the Board recalled this Friday, the weather forecasts on the use of land and other natural resources must be included, as well as the estimation of the types and quantities of waste generated. It will also have to be identified, described, analyzed and quantified the possible effects, direct and indirect, on factors such as population, human health, flora, fauna, biodiversity, soil, subsoil, air, water, climate, landscape, urban planning and cultural heritage, such a broad file in which most administrations will have to report.Check here all the news from CáceresThe decision will depend on that environmental impact and on the territory and on the restoration forecasts. Neither the exploitation project nor the feasibility project will receive major objections. In addition to the autonomous administration, competent in Minas, the license of the city council will also be required, an authorization that must be in accordance with the urban planning plan. In Valdeflores it cannot be excavated, the plan prohibits it, but the company argues that this prohibition does not affect the subsoil. And the space that has more options to locate the industrial plant is undeveloped protected, industrial use does not enter, which would entail a modification of the plan and, if it is processed, a new revision may be due to the characteristics of a project such as the one promoted in the Mountain.