Infinity Lithium Corporation will continue moving ahead with plans to submit a direct mining licence application for its San José lithium project in Spain after a decision from the Contentious Administrative Court in Cáceres confirmed the termination of its Investigation Permit Valdeflorez or “PIV”.
The company says the decision has provided clarity on the most suitable pathway to lodging a mining licence.
According to Infinity, it has planned for this scenario and its wholly-owned subsidiary Extremadura New Energies is now advancing the submission of a direct Exploitation Concession in accordance with its arrangements with local and regional government bodies.
Management says its permitting plan is still on track and has already been launched with the initial document in the Exploitation Concession permitting process filed in October this year, in response to an invitation from regional and local authorities.
Early next year, the regional government will provide the company with feedback in the form of an Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Document which Infinity hopes will provide the collaborative base for the construction of a mine at one of Europe’s largest hard rock lithium deposits.
Infinity Lithium Corporation Managing Director Ryan Parkin said:“The company has worked with regional and local authorities towards preparing a permitting pathway which considers any outcome with regards to this decision.”
"We look forward to progressing the lodgement of the Exploitation Concession Application through this now defined pathway in line with the support shown by relevant local and regional stakeholders.”
In a sign of local support, the Regional Government of Extremadura, an autonomous community in Spain, has amended a law that means integrated lithium projects such as San José are classified as operations of “regional interest”. The designation means Infinity’s project will now benefit from reduced administrative timeframes.
Voicing support for the project the mayor of Cáceres said “The project is already underground. From there, it will be the technicians who will have to report on what would or would not be necessary and then the city will have to discuss the convenience or not of the project.”
“The point we are at now is the same one we were at yesterday”
Infinity Lithium’s planned San José project is located near the city of Cáceres in Spain and holds one of Europe's leading JORC-compliant hard-rock lithium deposits with a total indicated and inferred resource base of 111 million tonnes at 0.61 per cent lithium oxide.
To convert its enormous lithium stock into battery-grade lithium hydroxide, the business is also planning to construct a nearby lithium chemical conversion facility.
San José was originally intended to be an open pit mine, but after consultation with regional authorities the project has been redesigned as an underground mining operation with a nearby processing hub. Interestingly the underground deposit will be accessed through a tunnel at the beneficiation plant – a move the company says will deliver no visual, audible or vibration-based effects to the people of Cáceres.
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By Matt Birney
