EMED Mining - Resolutions of Legal Disputes between Third Parties
11-01-2010

EMED Mining Public Limited (“EMED Mining” or “the Company”) is pleased to advise that recent court rulings in Spain all serve to support the Company’s proposed plans to restart the Rio Tinto Mine (“Proyecto Rio Tinto” or “PRT”). 

The court rulings were in relation to disputes between various previous stakeholders in PRT and have received some coverage in the Spanish press. They were all initiated by third parties and neither EMED Mining nor any of its subsidiaries were a party to any of the proceedings. Summary details on the rulings are as follows:
 The first such court ruling dismissed the challenge by a landholder, which owns land underlying part of a PRT tailings dam, of legal arrangements entered into by MRI Group with EMED Mining.  MRI Group is a previous direct stakeholder in PRT and now a major EMED Mining shareholder.
 The second such court ruling dismissed the legal appeals by the former controllers of Mantesur Andevalo, the vendor of PRT, against MRI Group’s dealings with those parties.
 The third is a set of positive court judgements against previous controllers of PRT who unsuccessfully challenged the permitting processes imposed by the regulatory authorities. This confirms the process already being adhered to by EMED Mining and its subsidiaries.

Whilst these rulings are not directly part of the formal approval process for the restart of the Rio Tinto Mine which is now underway, the ongoing cleanup of such legacy issues removes some of the potential complications and delays to this process.

EMED Mining Managing Director, Mr Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said,

“The restart of the Rio Tinto Mine is considered to be relatively straightforward from an operational perspective.  We merely start-up a long-standing facility and update its  control systems to meet industry improvements that have been developed over the past 20 years. However, progress in gaining approval from the relevant Spanish authorities for the restart has to date been hampered by disputes between various previous stakeholders. It is pleasing that these various court rulings help in clearing the decks for the restart.”


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Bishopsgate Communications
Nick Rome

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