Romania has granted Aim-listed miner Vast Resources a licence to operate the Baita Plai mine, paving the way for the company to reopen the polymetallic mine that was placed on care and maintenance in 2013.
Vast, which this week announced that The National Agency for Mineral Resources had approved its licence, would implement a development strategy aimed at resuming production at Baita Plai in “as short a timeframe as practicable”, CEO Andrew Prelea stated.
“This historic event marks the granting of an association licence of a polymetallic mine in Romania for the first time in 19 years and has been a learning experience for the entire team and all stakeholders,” he said.
The permit was granted to Vast subsidiary African Consolidated Resources, which owns 80% interest in the underground mine in the Apuensi Mountains. Baita Plai is located about 50 km from Romania’s largest polymetallic and uranium mine, Rosia Montan.
Vast also owns the producing Manaila mine and is exploring the potential for a new, larger Manaila metallurgical complex. It also owns the Faneata mine and recently acquired an indirect interest in prospective polymetallic mineralisation in the so-called “gold quadrilateral” in the Metaliferi mountains, through a new subsidiary EMA Resources.
The company plans to list the new subsidiary separately.