Lithium extraction in Valdeflores

The mining company has already taken half of the land for its industrial plant in Cáceres

Second lease agreement that announces and that adds 47 hectares between the foothills of the Mountain and the Ex-206

These are steps being taken by the company that is still pending obtaining the operating authorization of the Board

Photo of a survey carried out in one of the areas where the plant is projected. / THE NEWSPAPER

José Luis Bermejo

Cáceres 15 MAR 2024 7:01

Extremadura New Energies (ENE), a subsidiary in Spain of the Australian Infinity Lithium, announced on Thursday that it has closed a new agreement for the lease of land in which the company plans the installation of its industrial plant and the collection of waste. It is the second communication of this type that it makes and both agreements total 47 hectares. It is about half of the land that the mining company needs between the lack of the Mountain and the Miajadas road (Ex-206), according to the plans it has disseminated.

The company asks the Board for the license to operate the Cáceres mine

For now, these are steps that the company takes and that are prior to obtaining the permit that would allow the exploitation of the Valdeflores site. The company still does not have an operating authorization, only the exploration one it got a year ago from the Board. A month ago he announced that he had submitted to the General Directorate of Mines of the Junta de Extremadura the application for a concession for the exploitation of the underground lithium deposit in Valdeflores. It is the passage from the exploration to the exploitation authorization, which is the one that would make it possible to excavate the underground mine.

Land that is planned for the industrial plant, annexed facilities and collection of materials. / THE NEWSPAPER

At the moment, what has been requested is the pass to the exploitation concession. The documentation (the exploitation project, the environmental impact study, the restoration plan and the viability plan) that gives shape and content to the exploitation request has not been provided. Company sources specified on Thursday that it will be provided "as soon as the Board says, that it has to communicate when the time is to." It will be from that moment when it is decided whether or not the mine is possible. It will be decisive, among others, the environmental impact study presented by the company and the statement made by the Board, in addition to the process of presenting allegations and the sectoral reports, among which will be that of the city council, which in its last report assured, based on an urban report presented by the company, that the action (underground mine and industrial plant with the collection of waste) is not incompatible with the Municipal General Plan (PGM) of urban planning. The procedure for deciding whether to give the operating permit can be extended for months.

The second lease announced by the company affects an area of about eleven hectares, according to the information disseminated by the company. It is an agreement for a period of 35 years, in accordance with the useful life period that is foreseen for the project (opening of the mine, operation, installation and production in the industrial plant, restoration of the affected land...). The cost of the operation stands at 700,000 euros. In this second contract, the ground is at the foot of the Mountain, in the area of the sun.

The first land lease agreement was announced last July. For the same, according to the company, access was guaranteed to an area of 35.7 hectares that are located in the vicinity of the Miajadas road (Ex-206). It would be missing, due to the plans disseminated by the company and the documentation that was provided to the city council, half of the land on which the construction of the plant is planned for the transformation of the mineral into lithium hydroxide, the auxiliary facilities (accesses, access control, tracks, parking, offices, warehouse, workshops, electrical substation and gas station), the deposits of waste and debris of mining and industrial activity and other areas of collection, crushing and grinding.

The CEO of the company, Ramón Jiménez, highlighted, in a statement released on Thursday by ENE, that work continues to be done on the closing of agreements with the owners of the land as a "priority option" not to go to the expropriations allowed by the mine law.

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Extremadura New Energies is the subsidiary in Spain of the company Infinity Lithium, which is the company that promotes the lithium extraction project in Valdeflores. The Australian company also highlighted this Thursday, in the information it provides to the Sydney stock exchange - in which it is listed - for investors, the land lease agreement it has closed.

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The mine project consists of two major interventions. One is the underground mine in the Valdeflores valley, which is reached through a tunnel. And the other is the plant for the processing of the mineral and obtaining the lithium hydroxide that would be used for the batteries, this intervention is the one that is planned on the surface between the foothills of the Mountain and the Miajadas road.

The platform criticizes the sponsorship of the film festival

The Plataforma Salvemos la Montaña de Cáceres expressed this Thursday its rejection that the mine company is sponsoring the Spanish film festival that is held in the city, a fact that it considers "unacceptable" because it is a company "that wants to open a lithium mine in the city, whose operations could have a harmful impact on the health of the people of Cáceres, on the environment and on the water we drink," according to a statement. "Not all projects are admissible, especially when it is evident that a mine in a city is highly toxic," he says in the note.