The legislature or mandate that began last June will be that of the mine. It is the issue that will mark, if not the four years, then the first half of this period. It will be the most important thing. And this time with a debate with differences compared to the one that occurred in the middle of Elena Nevado's second term, between 2016 and 2018, which was the moment in which the company (called Tecnología Extremeña del Litio, Extremadura New Energies, Infinity Lithium or Plymouth Minerals) that has prior permits to operate the mine was closer to final authorization. She did not succeed due to the strong social rejection that there was and because the city council refused to change its urban planning plan.
This month or December, if there are no further delays (the company can postpone it to the first quarter of 2024), is the departure date . This project will focus almost everything from the moment the company asks the Board to transfer its exploration permit to exploitation and presents all the documentation: the exploitation project, the economic viability plan, the land restoration program and the Environment Effect investigation. The latter is, today, the main document. It is not only about business development or employment, but also about the impact on the territory , in a space that is so close to the urban area and that the city council, with the approval of the environmental report of the Board, preserved in 2010 when it remained among the protected lands of the urban planning plan. It is not that the plan cannot be changed, but it requires a general and prevalent interest that goes far beyond individuals, according to the courts.
In recent months, the messages that the company insists on the most are that it has changed its project to make it more sustainable. The first modification was that the mine, which in 2018 could not be underground and could only be opened in the open, is now planned underground . Another change in the debate is that the project already has public support, in 2018 the 'no' to the mine had won the streets, there were no voices in favor . And a third change, which the company defends, is that lithium is a strategic raw material in Europe, it appears in the regulation that establishes a framework to guarantee the safe and sustainable supply of fundamental raw materials that was ratified in Parliament this September. European. Although the one that has to decide on granting the exploitation permit is the Board with the analysis of the allegations (there will be thousands) and the sectoral reports from other administrations, including the city council.
For this reason, and for the social debate that will occur, it will be the mandate of the mine. The local
corporation is going to have to decide whether to change its urban planning plan. Although they want to sell it as a minor document in this entire process, we must not forget that it was this plan that prevented the company from having a mining resource research permit again and that forced it to have to take the route of the exploration authorization to return to the box prior to requesting the exploitation permit.
The mine is not a pandemic, of course they are not comparable and the second was the most serious issue that has had to be faced in decades, but in the mine the model of city that is wanted and what territory is left is decided.
https://www.elperiodicoextremadura.com/caceres/opinion/2023/11/12/sera-legislatura-mina-ayuntamiento-94505341.html
