Petaquilla granted mining rights to re-open Lomero-Poyatos gold mine in Spain

Canadian gold miner Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. (TSX:PTQ) said Monday it has completed the titling process for its wholly-owned Lomero-Poyatos project in Andalucia, Spain, about 500 km south of Madrid.

During the next six months, the company will move to final engineering and design, initiate developmental drilling, conduct bulk volume testing, and advance a National Instrument 43-101 feasibility study, said Petaquilla.

The idea is to re-open the mine, which produced about 2.6 Mt of pyrite ore —mainly by underground mining methods, for use as sulphuric acid feedstock— and that has been closed for about 20 years

In October 2011, the Spanish Ministry of Environment granted Unified Environmental Authorisation (AAU) to the Canadian miner for the Lomero-Poyatos project, which comprises 13 concessions totalling 176 hectares.

The proposed mine is located in the northeast part of the Spanish/Portuguese (Iberian) Pyrite Belt and, according to the miner’s website it is the highest gold grade in the area currently known.

Earlier this month, the company locked horns with Toronto-based Inmet Mining Corp. (TSX:IMN) over land rights near the Cobre Panama copper project, run by Inmet’s subsidiary Minera Panama.

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