29th Mar 2019 10:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ascent Resources PLC on Friday said Slovenia's environment minister has resigned, meaning it has now filed an appeal against the request for an environmental impact assessment.
A new environment minister has come in, Ascent said, after the previous one resigned over corruption allegations.
The Slovenian Environment Agency, or ARSO, has previously requested Ascent provide the environmental assessment for the re-stimulation of wells Pg-10 and Pg-11A at its Petisovci project.
"The board firmly believe the decision by ARSO was manifestly wrong as it ignored the advice provided by six governmental institutions who concluded there was no significant risk to the environment and therefore no assessment was required," said Ascent.
This is not the only permit struggle Ascent has had in Slovenia, having applied for an integrated pollution prevention & control permit five years ago. A decision from ARSO is still forthcoming.
"It is the position of the company this decision is long overdue and should have been confirmed at the very latest in November 2017. We provided extensive additional information during 2018 and hope this permit will be confirmed by ARSO without further damaging delay," Ascent continued.
"While we hope for a positive outcome from the appeal in relation to the well permit and the final confirmation of the IPPC permit, we continue to prepare our legal options outside of Slovenia to address the numerous breaches of Slovenian and EU law which have caused significant economic damage to Ascent shareholders."
Shares were 12% higher on Friday morning at 0.28 pence each.
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