EMED Mining permitting boosted as EU knocks back proposed cyanide ban

EMED Mining (LON:EMED) has been boosted by a U-turn in proposed European mining legislation, as the European Commission rejected a proposed ban on the use of cyanide in mining activities. The company said that as a result the permitting risks to its European projects have been reduced.

On 23 June, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potočnik, stated: "After an in depth analysis of the issue, the Commission considers that a general ban of cyanide in mining activities is not justified from environmental and health point of views ... Due to the lack of better (in the sense of causing less impact on the environment) alternative technologies, a general ban on cyanide use would imply the closure of existing mines operating in safe conditions."

“This would be detrimental to employment without additional environmental and health added value."
Recently, the company’s representatives had actively participated in industry consultations, with regard to the proposal. EMED MD Harry Anagnostaras-Adams and EMED Slovakia MD Dr Demetrios Constantinides were recently invited to participate in industry committees as part of The European Association of Mining Industries - Euromines.
Euromines committees provide support for the Raw Minerals Initiative of the European Union to promote and facilitate Europe's access to minerals and the resurgence of the mining industry in Europe. “One specific task has been the protection of international metal production from the proposals of some single-issue lobby groups to ban the use of the industrial chemical cyanide”, EMED stated.

EMED is working towards the restart of the Proyecto Rio Tinto (PRT) in the Andalucía province of southern Spain.

The PRT copper mine is slated to re-start in Q4 2010, with production scheduled to begin in 2011.  The mine has a JORC-compliant mineral resource of 205Mt (million tonnes) at 0.46% copper for 0.95Mt of copper.

In Slovakia, EMED is currently developing the Biely Vrch gold project, which was recently awarded "exclusive deposit" status marking the first statutory step of the permitting process. The company and its environmental consultants are now proceeding with the preparation of a Preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment.