PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Junta de Andalucía, or the government of Andalucía, in Spain, has assigned the Oropesa tin project to its Project Accelerator Unit for accelerated and streamlined regulatory assessment and processing

ASX-listed Elementos on Thursday reported that Oropesa was named as one of seven significant mining projects assigned to the unit formed to centralise and streamline the project’s regulatory assessments and provide further government support to ensure the successful startup and execution of the project.

This follows a submission by Elementos to the Ministry of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge, and Universities.

The Accelerator Unit aims to support significant investment projects that generate wealth and employment for the region of Andalusia and ensure that these projects are processed by the administrations with agility and efficiency. The Accelerator Unit’s scope of action includes promoting strategic projects that, due to their importance or nature, contribute to the achievement of the objectives of Andalusía.

The Andalucían Accelerator Unit is the equivalent of being granted a State Significant Project status in Australia.

Elementos MD Joe David said he was appreciative of the Junta’s support, describing it as the most significant regulatory step in the project’s development to date.

“It affirms the project’s significance to the region and the strong working relationship we have formed with regulators. We look forward to now working even closer with the Junta de Andalucía to bring the Oropesa tin project into operation for the benefit of the region and all stakeholders.”

A definitive feasibility study for Oropesa is currently under way, and an optimisation study is due for release within the next month to confirm the project’s size and scale, as well as serve regulatory submissions.

A 2020 economic study into the project estimated that it could produce 2 440 t/y of tin over a mine life of 14 years, and estimated that the project would require a capital investment of $52.2-million.