The support from Brussels to seven “strategic” projects for the extraction of exploitation of critical subjects in Spain promises investments of around 2,000 million euros and 4,000 jobs, according to the data collected by this newspaper.
The projects subject to receiving Europe are distributed Extremadura (3), Andalusia (2), Castilla-La Mancha (1) and Galicia (1). The largest is the Co -Cruces In the province of Seville, where its owner, the Canadian First Quantum Capital (his first shareholder is a Chinese group), says that around 850 million euros will be invested and 900 jobs will be generated for the copper polymetallurgical refinery refinery project.
The other of the Andalusian projects selected by Europe is that of mining recycling Circular (Huelva) whose purpose is the recovery of non-ferrous metals such as copper, gold, silver, platinum, paladium and tin based on electrical and electronic devices in disuse, according to Atlantic Copper, the company that owns the project, which belongs to the US multinational freemore minera Freeport-McMoran. For the works, investments worth 410 million euros and the creation of 450 jobs are estimated.
In Castilla-La Mancha, the beneficiary will be The ‘El Moto’ mine in Abenójar (Ciudad Real) for which investments of 140 million euros are expected and the use of 500 people for the extraction of Wolframio, a high heat resistance mineral used in the manufacture of components for the car or in the aerospace industry.
Exploitation projects
of critical subjects
Approved by the European Commission
Cobalt, nickel,
group metals
Platinum and copper
Copper and
metals of
Platinum group
Fountain: European Commission
Critical subject exploitation projects
Approved by the European Commission
Cobalt, nickel, group metals
Platinum and copper
Copper and metals
of the platinum group
Fountain: European Commission
The Brussels guarantee also arrives in Galicia where the mine of Doade (Orense) has been selected for its wealth in lithium minerals. The Aragonese group Samca It will invest in this project 120 million euros and expect to create 320 jobs.
But it is Extremadura that takes the palm with three mining projects within those selected by Europe. It’s about the mines of Aguablanca, Las Navas and the Grillall very different from each other and in different stages of development.
The mine of Aguablanca (It foresees investments of 25 million and the creation of 1,000 jobs), of more than 300 hectares, is located in Monesterio, south of the province of Badajoz, and is promoted by the Río Narcea group. This is the only nickel mine in Europe, which, however, has been closed for ten years. In his day, his extraction ceased to be profitable, but the panorama has changed completely. It is a scarce material and Europe considers it essential. The promoters already expressed their desire to collect permits and resume the activity.
Nor is the La Parrilla mine active, located in Almoharín (Cáceres), dedicated to wolframium and tin, although it also seeks its reopening, which could generate around 500 jobs.
In the case of the Las Navas mine, the project, located in Cañaveral (Cáceres) and promoted by Lithium Iberia, focuses on lithium. Last January, he received 20 million euros from the belonging of the electric vehicle. The investment amounts to more than 500 million euros, with the expectation of generating almost 800 direct jobs with one of the most ambitious lithium farms on the continent. Being a strategic project could mean the definitive impulse to start.
Transcendental issue
The decision of Brussels has also received the blessing of geologists and businessmen in the mining sector. “It is a transcendental issue for the future of Europe, if you are not able to depend on your raw materials, you are lost,” he says Pablo Núñez of the Official College of Geologists of Spain. One of the most important benefits of this announcement is that these projects will enjoy strategic status. For Núñez, that means that it is the same that has a fundamental pillar such as an energy infrastructure or an airport. And will allow them to have favorable financing options.
For its part, for the employer of mining companies it is a hopeful announcement. It remains to be seen if the mechanisms that Europe has been equipped are robust enough to ensure a good processing of the projects at the time they terrify. «Because in the end a project is in a country and is in an autonomous community, but it is also in one or more municipalities. That’s where we have to do if all wills really will be aligned, ”he says César Luaces, General Director of Primigenia, the Spanish Confederation of the Mineral Raw Materials Industries.
Most of these Spanish projects, details Luaces, are in a rather depopulated rural environment. And, normally, they exert a tractor effect on the population. Generating a very important supplier ecosystem around it, with direct and indirect employment. «To that is added the payment of taxes and other benefits. To the municipalities where these projects fall we can say that they have touched the lottery and not only for a year, but throughout the useful life of the project, ”he says.
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