Tecnología Extremeña del Litio, a JV between Australia’s Infinity Lithium (ASX: INF) and Spain’s Valoriza Minería, is being asked to pay a €2,500-fine and to restore an area where it carved roads and installed drilling platforms in its quest to further explore the San José / Valdeflórez lithium project in western Spain.
A resolution by the counsellor for Ecological Transition and Sustainability of Extremadura’s regional government dismissed an appeal filed by the company against the sanction.
San José’s resources have been estimated in 111.3Mt at 0.28%Li and 0.61%Li2O
According to news agency Europa Press, the issue was initially raised by the former General Directorate of Environment, based on a complaint presented in January 2018 by the Sierra de la Mosca Neighbours Association. The Directorate’s file was also informed by a report compiled by technicians with the Environmental Protection Service.
The file states that between 2016 and 2018, Tecnología Extremeña del Litio opened new roads and greatly modified existing ones without having presented an environmental impact assessment before the authorities. The soil in the areas where the paths were carved out are under special protection and some segments are of archaeological significance.
MINING.com reached out via email to Infinity Lithium and asked whether it is going to accept the sanction or pursue further legal action before justice tribunals but did not receive a response by publication time.
The San José industrial lithium project is located near Cáceres. The plan is to develop it by open-pit methods with the ore treated and refined onsite to produce high-quality, battery-grade lithium hydroxide.
According to Infinity Lithium’s website, its goal in the long term is to supply the European lithium-ion battery supply chain and EV industry.