TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and LSE-listed EMED Mining on Tuesday reported that it had received a signed copy of unified environmental authorisation (AAU) for its flagship Rio Tinto copper mine, in Spain’s Andalucia region.

Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Maria Jesus Serrano on Friday announced the signing of the AAU for the mine, representing another critical milestone to restarting the historic mine.

It appeared as if recent board and management changes, putting more Spanish nationals in charge of the project, were helping the project’s progression.

EMED said that it was reviewing the AAU and would provide further updates in due course.

In January, the director-general of industry, energy and mines of the Junta de Andalucia, Maria Jose Asensio, along with the Economy, Innovation, Science and Jobs Minister Jose Sanchez Maldonado, announced that the government of Andalucia had issued a ‘compatibility report’ regarding the reopening of the Rio Tinto mine, in the Huelva province, stating that there were no inconsistencies in any environmental aspects of the project.

The compatibility report is an internal report between the Environment Department and the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Jobs, by which the Environment Department had provided the competent body – the Department of Industry, Energy and Mines – with confirmation that there were no inconsistencies.

EMED’s project, which gave birth to mining giant Rio Tinto, is located in the Iberian pyrite belt, 65 km north-west of Seville, Spain. The openpit mine and processing facility had been on care and maintenance since mining ceased in 2000, owing to low copper prices at the time of less than $1/lb.

EMED was granted an option to acquire the operation in May 2007, and it was subsequently acquired in October 2008.

Also located just 20 km from Seville, base-metals miner Inmet Mining has for the last three years been operating the Las Cruces copper mine, host to some of the mining industry’s highest grades, which has been a huge boon to Inmet.

The Rio Tinto project was also located about 75 km from Freeport McMoRan’s Atlantic copper smelter and a major seaport.

A National Instrument 43-101-compliant technical report completed by Behre Dolbear in November 2010, had placed a base-case net present value of $654-million on the project, using a price of $3.50/lb copper.

The project had total expected cash costs of about $1.57/lb, including all operating, capital and acquisition expenses.

The Rio Tinto mine currently had proven and probable ore reserves totalling 123-million tonnes at 0.49% copper for about 610 000 t of contained copper, at a cutoff grade of 0.2% and measured and indicated mineral resources of 203.1-million tonnes at 0.46% copper, for about 930 000 t of contained copper at a cutoff grade of 0.2%.

The project has ample opportunity to extend the current expected 14-year mine life by converting more resources to reserves, and had potential for higher grades once operations started targeting underground reserves later in the mine plan.