1st Jul 2016 07:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - Beowulf Mining PLC Friday said the Swedish government has instructed authorities to review the company's application for an exploitation concession for Kallak North in light of a recent court judgement involving a project held by a separate company.
Beowulf has been operating in Sweden for many years and has been focused on securing the concession for the Kallak North iron ore asset for a while, much to the miner's frustration.
The mining inspectorate of the country recommended the concession for the project should be awarded to the company around nine months ago, but neither the Swedish government nor the minister for enterprise and innovation issued any response.
Once the concession for Kallak North has been secured, Beowulf plans to find a partner to introduce to the asset.
However, on Friday the miner said the Swedish government has asked the mining inspectorate to review the company's application in the context of the recent Supreme Administrative Court judgement in the case of the Norra Karr project.
This relates to the judgement of the supreme administrative court of Sweden in February that Tasman Metal Ltd's mining lease for Norra Karr be cancelled on the basis that environmental studies did not adequately support future mining operation at the site.
Until that point, future mining operation analysis would have been done at the environmental permitting stage and not the environmental impact assessment stage, and the decision criteria for the exploitation concession had been limited to the concession area. However, the decision had meant the criteria would be expanded.
Beowulf welcomed the movement on the application and said it should be reviewed to ensure that any future award of a concession would be in line with the court's judgement on Norra Karr.
"The Norra Karr judgement meant that a further review of our application was inevitable, but we maintain, for this stage of permitting, that our environmental impact assessment has provided the required level of technical detail, including comprehensive studies covering all activities associated with a future mining operation and their impacts," said Chief Executive Kurt Budge.
Beowulf shares were down 7.1% to 4.25 pence per share on Friday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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