PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The government of Greenland has, in a draft decision, refused ASX-listed Energy Transition Minerals’ appeal for an amended exploitation licence for its Kuannersuit project.

The draft decision states: “The government of Greenland refuses the application of December 16, 2022 for the alternative exploitation licence for the Kuannersuit project.”

Energy Transition Minerals had lodged the amendment application proposing an alternative development scenario which would only extract rare earth elements, zinc and fluorspar while removing uranium as an impurity and safely treating and storing it in the tailings facility.

This followed from a decision by the Greenland government in 2021 passed to ban uranium prospecting, exploration and exploitation.

“The company is disappointed the government of Greenland has made a draft decision to reject this alternative development proposal and strongly disagrees with the government's conclusions,” Energy Transition Minerals said in a statement.

“Amongst other shortcomings, the draft decision appears to be little more than a reproduction of the government of Greenland's previous decision to reject the company's original exploitation licence application, without any meaningful consideration of the merits of the company's alternative development proposal or the company's legal rights and legitimate expectations.”

The company has been allowed two weeks to provide comment on the draft decision, but said on Thursday that this timeframe was "manifestly insufficient" to allow it to prepare an adequate response.

The company has written to the government seeking an extension of time, as well as requesting access to all material relied upon in reaching the draft decision.

Energy Transition Minerals in July this year filed a statement of claim with an arbitral tribunal in Copenhagen, hoping to confirm that it had a legal right to an exploitation licence and seeking confirmation that the legislation passed in 2021 would not apply to the company or its project.

The company was also seeking a determination from the tribunal on whether the governments of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark were liable to pay damages for breach of contract.