Guatemalan appeals court challenges Tahoe’s Escobal mine license

Aerial view of Escobal silver project

A Guatemalan court of appeals has challenged Tahoe Resources’ (NYSE: TAHO) operating license for its Escobal silver project located in San Rafael, Las Flores.

The court ruled on Wednesday that the license granted by the minister for energy and mines did not consider 250 oppositions filed against the project, the Associated Press reports. The ruling stipulates that the minister has three days to submit a new resolution that considers all filed oppositions.

At 11:30 am ET Prensa Libre tweeted that the court had suspended Tahoe’s license – based on an announcement made at a press conference held by CALAS (Centro de Acción Legal-Ambiental y Social de Guatemala), an environmentalist group.

However a spokesperson for the company told MINING.com the announcement is far from the truth. Tahoe acknowledged a ruling, but said it only states that “a mines ministry director should have conducted hearings on some of oppositions that were filed many months ago against the issuance of the exploitation license.”

Tahoe emphasized the court did not invalidate or comment on the exploitation license in today’s decision. It also added its subsidiary Minera San Rafael will file an appeal within 48 hours at the Constitutional Court, which may take several weeks to rule.

CORRECTION: Story originally implied that Tahoe’s mining license had been suspended. Post has been updated and corrected.

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