TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Project developer EMED Mining, which is working to restart production at its flagship Rio Tinto mine, in Spain’s Andalucia region, on Thursday said it had completed the design of the tailings management facility (TMF) after it was confirmed that the two authorities responsible for issuing environmental permitting would impose the same conditions.

This meant that the final conditions for the TMF had been met to ensure baseline production, and was the final requirement to receive environmental permitting, before preliminary site works were expected to start during the third quarter.

EMED MD and CEO Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said authorities had now confirmed the same conditions would be applied to the TMF to serve both government’s environmental and economic agendas.

"Environmentally, the conditions make the plan safer, allow progressive environmental restoration during operations and avoid the premature disturbance of more land. Economically, the conditions preserve the base case for production and, in due course, will also serve expansion scenarios after the refinements have been optimised in the field during operations," he said.

In a note to investors, on Thursday, market analysts SP Angel, of London, said that while this news was positive, in that the tailings conditions had been met, there would be disappointment that the timeline for permitting had slipped.

“Against this backdrop, the schedule for restart is being reviewed to meet commissioning by mid-2014 and accelerate the restart of the mine,” the analysts said.

The main regulatory approvals still required were the approval by the Junta de Andalucia of the transfer of mineral rights to EMED subsidiary EMED Mining Tartessus, and approval of the restart, operating and rehabilitation plans, all of which were based on long-standing and previously approved practices at the Rio Tinto mine, but that were being updated as appropriate.

In April, the Andalucian government had cleared all economic, technical and legal capacities for administrative recognition of the company's mineral rights for the project, except for civil works on the tailings dam.

This meant that the government was progressing the permits required to start site works, which included finalising administrative standing and the environmental plan, subject to receiving a preliminary report from the national civil works technical review agency, Cedex, supporting the proposed conditions to be applied to tailings management.

Despite this not being the final approval, it seemed as if the company’s long permitting journey was nearing an end.

Anagnostaras-Adams earlier this month told Mining Weekly Online that EMED was part of what might very well be a “renaissance of European mining”, as it was preparing to restart the ancient mine.

He said restarting the Rio Tinto mine would contribute to a “watershed moment” in unlocking a new strategic opportunity in the European Union.