Bluelake Mineral
Municipal council of Røyrvik approves the zoning plan for Joma mine
Bluelake Mineral AB (publ) (the "Company" or "Bluelake Mineral") is, as previously announced, via its Norwegian subsidiary Joma Gruver AS, working with the permit process in Norway to implement a so-called plan program and to obtain an approved zoning plan which is a detailed plan for the industrial area for the proposed mining operations in Joma in Røyrvik municipality in Trøndelag county. At a meeting in Røyrvik on September 5, the municipal council (Norwegian kommunstyret) voted to approve the proposed plan program and zoning plan for the Joma mine. The decision is conditional on a regional and cumulative impact assessment study for reindeer herding being carried out before final start-up notice for the mine is announced. The proposed plan program and zoning plan have been approved despite the Sami Parliament's objection (Norwegian innsigelse). According to the proposal, the municipality will first inquire if the Sami Parliament agree to withdraw the objection. Otherwise, the matter will have to be referred to the State Administrator in Trøndelag county for mediation (Norwegian mekkling) between the municipality and the Sami Parliament. The decision is based on careful consideration of consultation responses from various authorities, reindeer herding community, business owners and other stakeholders and where the conclusion is that the prospects for new jobs and population growth outweigh the negative consequences for the reindeer herding. The municipal council in Røyrvik adopted the resolution unanimously.
Before mining can start in Joma, the zoning plan needs to be approved, as well as an environmental permit (Norwegian utslippstillatelse) and mining license. An often crticial step in the process is the approval of a zoning plan, where in Norway there is a municipal veto which means that the municipality concerned can stop the plans for a mine. Now the regulatory plan has been approved with the condition that a supplementary regional and cumulative impact assessment for the reindeer herding should be carried out before final start-up notice is announced for the mine. The decision states, among other things, that the area delimitation for the study shall be areas described in www.kilden.no, including areas on the Swedish side towards the national border at Stora Blåsjön and Leipikvattnet, which are under the operational areas of Østre Namdal Reindeer District. Other frameworks and limitations for the investigation must be agreed upon jointly between the parties. The mining company and the Østre Namdal Reindeer District have equal responsibility for the composition of a professional group that will prepare the regional impact assessment. Costs for carrying out the investigation must primarily be financed by the mining company, but the mining company is encouraged to apply for partial financing from the municipalities concerned and Namdal's regional council.
- The municipality's decision to approve the zoning plan is an important milestone for establishing the mine. We see no problem with carrying out a supplementary impact assessment study for the reindeer herding now that the decision on the zoning plan has been made. We expect that the study can be completed relatively swiftly and, in parallel with this, work on the application for an environmental permit can start. The probability that the Joma mine will come into operation has now dramatically increased, says the chairman of Joma Gruver Peter Hjorth.
____________
Stockholm, September 2023
Bluelake Mineral AB (publ)
The Board of Directors
Additional information
For additional information, please contact:
Peter Hjorth, CEO, Bluelake Mineral AB (public), phone +46-725 38 25 25
Email: info@bluelakemineral.com
General information about the Company
Bluelake Mineral AB (public) is an independent Swedish company active in exploration and mine development of copper, zinc, nickel and gold resources.
The Company owns approximately 99% of the subsidiary Vilhelmina Mineral AB, which is focusing on development of copper and zinc deposits in the Nordic region. In Sweden, the Company owns Stekenjokk-Levi project, where a total of approximately 7 million tonnes of ore were mined between 1976 and 1988 with an average grade 1.5% Cu and 3.5% Zn. Stekenjokk-Levi is, according to a recent Mineral Resource Estimate by SRK Consulting, containing inferred mineral resources of approximately 6.7 million tonnes with 0.9 % Cu, 2.7 % Zn, 0.6 % Pb, 55 Ag g/t and 0.2 g/t Au for Stekenjokk and inferred mineral resources of 5.1 million tonnes with 1.0 % Cu, 1.5 % Zn, 0.1 % Pb, 22 Ag g/t and 0.2 g/t Au for Levi (at a NSR cut-off of 60 USD/t). In Norway, the Company is owner of Joma Gruver AS which holds exploitation rights for the Joma field, where approximately 11.5 million tonnes of ore were processed between 1972 and 1998 with an average grade of 1.5% Cu and 1.5% Zn. The Joma field (excluding Gjersvik) is, according to a recent mineral estimate by SRK Consulting, containing indicated mineral resources of approximately 6 million tonnes with grades amounting to 1.00 % Cu and 1.66 % Zn and inferred resources of 1.2 million tonnes with grades 1.2 % Cu and 0.7 % Zn (at cut-off of 50 USD/t).
In addition, the Company holds exploitation concessions for the nickel project Rönnbäcken (which is Europe's largest known undeveloped nickel resource) and an exploration permit for Orrbäcken, both which are located in Sweden. According to a recently updated mineral resource update in by the mining consulting company SRK, the Rönnbäcken project contains a mineral resource of 600 million tonnes with an average grade of 0.18% Ni, 0.003% Co and 5.7% Fe ("measured and indicated"). The updated preliminary economic assessment that SRK completed predicts a production of 23,000 tonnes of nickel, 660 tonnes of cobalt and 1.5 million tonnes of iron per year for 20 years, which would be a significant share of Sweden's total annual use of nickel which thereby has a strategic value. Orrbäcken is considered to have potential as a nickel deposit.
Further, the Company holds an exploration permit for Kattisavan which is considered to have potential as a gold resource and is located within the so-called gold line, close to projects such as Svartliden, Fäboliden and Barsele.
| Datum | 2023-09-06, kl 08:45 |
| Källa | beQuoted |
Vill du synas här? Kontakta hej@allaaktier.se. Vår sajt har 100 000 sidvisningar och 10 000 unika besökare per månad. Vår discord har över 5000 medlemmar. Detta är aktiva sparare med ett stort aktieintresse. Behöver du nå ut till denna målgrupp så hör av dig!