PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior Berkeley Resources has been granted a mining licence over its Retortillo deposit, which forms part of the flagship Salamanca uranium project, in Spain
The company said on Thursday that the grant of a mining licence was a major milestone, and followed the approval of an exploitation and reclamation and closure plan for the proposed mining operations.
The granting of the mining licence also took into account the prerequisite approval of the environmental- and social-impact assessment.
Berkeley said that with the grant of the mining licence, the approvals process for the other key permits, including an authorisation for the process plant as a radioactive facility, and the land use authorisation, could now be finalised.
The mining licence would be valid for an initial 30-year period, and could be renewed for two additional 30-year periods.
A 2013 prefeasibility study estimated that the Salamanca project could produce about 3.3-million pounds of uranium oxide (U3O8) a year, over a seven-year period. Using only the current mineral resource estimate of 34.5-million pounds U3O8, the project life could be extended to 11 years, at a yearly production rate of 2.7-million pounds U3O8.