Ongoing SP Discussion, page-1479

The company that promotes the lithium extraction project in Valdeflores closed the last remaining gap of its initial plan for an open pit mine on December 1 . He does so just before taking the step of asking the Board for the granting of a permit to exploit an underground mine. Thus, it clears up any doubt that it could return to its initial idea of a surface mine, against which there was strong social rejection between 2018 and 2021, and it does so when it enters the decisive phase of processing the exploitation authorization. underground.

Related

• The urban planning plan is once again a stumbling block for the mine company
• The City Council of Cáceres makes a change and considers that the mine is not incompatible with the urban planning plan

The Sierra de la Mosca Neighborhood Association, one of the groups that has most opposed the plans of Infinity Lithium, the main company promoting the mine, reported this Tuesday that Tecnologia Extremeña del Litio has withdrawn the appeal presented in the Supreme Court against a ruling by the Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura (TSJEx), which last May ratified the Board's decision in April 2021 not to give the company the permit linked to its open-pit mine project. Extremadura Lithium Technology, which is owned by Infinity, presented the letter of withdrawal of the appeal on the 1st. The Supreme Court's decree is from the 4th.

Location plan of the projected industrial plant and access to the underground mine. THE NEWSPAPER

Since the company changed its strategy in October 2021 and went from an open-air project to an underground one, it was asked, especially by the previous municipal government, to provide proof that this was really the case, eliminating any option of exploitation in surface. This has not been done until now with the withdrawal of the appeal before the Supreme Court. The decision has been made "due to the company's business strategy," as specified this Tuesday by company sources.

This decision by the mining company is made at a time that is key for an exploitation project that began in November 2015 , when the Government of Extremadura called a public contest for expired mining records, among which was that of Valdeflores, which It was awarded to Sacyr, then Infinity joined, the two companies form Tecnología Extremadura del Litio, although the second is the majority and now leads the project through its subsidiary Extremadura New Energies.

And it is a decisive moment because before the end of the year the company will present to the Board the request for the exploitation permit that the General Directorate of Mines granted it last March. It is in this procedure that the viability of the mine is decided.

This entire initiative has two phases that are differentiated. The first runs from November 2015 to October 2021, although its last blow has continued until the company has withdrawn the appeal . In this period everything involved the company obtaining a research permit to later request the exploitation of an open pit mine. This research permit, which the company obtained in 2016, but which was annulled in 2019 after the appeal presented by Acima and Adenex, was finally rejected by the Board in April 2021. Subsequently, the Contentious Court and then the TSJEx ratified the decision of the regional administration.

One of the arguments that the Extremaduran court gave last May to argue that the research permit cannot be given was that "it is necessary to assess the urban planning regulations when granting it, since it is meaningless if then the relevant licenses and permits", which are granted based on compliance with these urban planning regulations. That consideration was made by the court based on reports from the city council in which it was concluded that extractive activity is not allowed in the Valdeflores area.

The TSJEx ruling also refers to the first research permit that was granted to the company, in December 2016, an authorization that was annulled due to non-compliance with the public information process, and to the change in criteria produced by the city council. The research permit was given in 2016 with the approval of the council's reports, while it was finally denied in April 2021 based on the city council's reports . The TSJEx concluded in its May ruling that the municipal reports that the company used to obtain authorization in 2016 were not in accordance with the legal system.

The neighborhood association referred this Tuesday to this conclusion of the TSJEx when remembering that now the city council is once again making the processing of the project viable so that the urban planning plan is not an inconvenience , it does so after having assured in a report from last November that "Extractive activities are not incompatible with urban planning," as stated by the neighborhood group.

With its decision last November to consider that the project of an underground mine in Valdeflores is not incompatible with the urban planning plan, what the city council does is open the door for the initiative to continue being processed and for it to be the general direction of Sustainability of The Board decides whether to give the project environmental authorization when the permit to exploit an underground deposit has to be processed. The city council could have chosen, as it did other times, especially when the open pit mine was planned, to state, which was what it did for example last January, that extractive activity is not allowed in Valdeflores, so it gave this assessment with the project already underground.

This time he has given another interpretation. The reading, based on Extremaduran land legislation, is that if there is no express and specific nominal prohibition in the urban planning plan that extractive uses are not permitted in Valdeflores, it can be considered that they are authorizable. The plan would no longer be an obstacle. But this does not mean that the mine can be built, but that now it will be other organizations, mainly those with environmental competence, that will have to decide if it can be authorized. The discussion is no longer focused so much on the city council.

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The second phase began in October 2021, when it was announced by the company that it was moving to an underground project. The next date is March 2023, when the Board gave Castilla Mining, another of Infinity's companies, the exploration permit (thus saving the denial of the research permit), which is what now allows the company to request exploitation. of the underground mine.

Surveys in the area where the industrial plant is planned

Save the Mountain calls for participation this Saturday in a human chain to surround the town hall

The Sierra de la Mosca neighborhood association released this Tuesday an image of surveys in the space where the mining company plans the industrial plant in which the mineral would be treated. Company sources stated that they have no relationship with them and that the lease agreement for the space has not yet become effective; it is conditional on obtaining the exploitation permit. On the other hand, the Save the Mountain platform called on citizens this Tuesday to participate in a human chain around the city council against the mine and for the change of opinion in the council regarding the limitations of the urban planning plan. It will be this Saturday from 12:00 p.m.