24 November 2009

EMED Mining Public Limited (“EMED Mining” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce progress on its plans to restart the Rio Tinto Mine (“Proyecto Rio Tinto” or “PRT”) in Spain.
Since the last update on 30 September 2009, the Junta de Andalucia (the Government) has communicated its support within the legislative framework for PRT at public forums and the Company has been asked to prepare and submit all remaining plans for regulatory approval.

The Company (via its wholly-owned subsidiary EMED Tartessus SL) and the authorities have refined the approach to the permitting process as follows:

•  Continued processing of the recently submitted Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) with the public consultation period and other requirements to be addressed in due course;
•  Concurrent consideration of the administrative transmission of the Company’s mineral rights and the operating permit, in compliance with changed environmental regulations introduced in the past few months; and
•  Preparation and lodgment for approval of the next stage of detailed plans for starting, operating and rehabilitating the mine, plant and waste disposal infrastructure by the Company and external experts.

These procedural matters have been the focus of the permitting process for some months and accommodate recently-introduced regulatory changes for processing EIA’s under European Union guidelines along with the specifics of this particular project. It is pleasing that this approach also serves to preserve the objective of commissioning startup by the end of 2010 and for production to settle down in 2011.

Read the entire announcement "Rio Tinto Mine Start Up - Permit Processes Move Forward" (45.2KB pdf).