JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Polish Civil Court has ruled in favour of ASX- and LSE-listed Prairie Mining by granting an injunction preventing the Ministry of Environment (MoE) from granting concessions or concluding usufruct agreements with third parties until full court proceedings are concluded.
The company started legal proceedings against the MoE earlier this month, to safeguard its rights over the Jan Karski mine, after it failed to secure a mining usufruct agreement, while it still awaits the environmental consent required to apply for a mining concession.
The court ruling now provides security of tenure over the Jan Karski concessions and secures Prairie’s rights until court proceedings have concluded. The legal process is expected to take a year or more to complete.
In 2015 Prairie secured the right to apply for a mining concession for the Jan Karski coking coal mine, in south-east Poland, and had until April 2, 2018, to file its application. However, without an environmental approval in hand, it cannot do so.
The MoE had three months to decide on Prairie’s mining usufruct agreement, the application of which was lodged in late December.
The company has completed an environmental and social impact assessment and has made submissions to the Lublin Regional Authority for the Environmental Protection (RDOS). The RDOS has requested additional information, subsequent to the start of legal proceedings. Prairie has indicated that it will provide the information in the coming weeks.
The RDOS has further indicated that the process to establish an environmental consent will be concluded by June 30.