"The Salave project recognizes and respects the peculiarities of the environment."

This morning the company Exploraciones Mineras del Cantábrico (EMC) welcomed Mr. Manuel Regueiro González-Barros, president of the Spanish Chamber of Geologists, with the exception of Andalusia, to the neighbouring areas of the Salave gold extraction project. Regueiro declared that Salave is “a project that recognizes and respects the special characteristics of this environment”.

The meeting was also attended by the Official Mining Chamber of Galicia (COMG) headed by Mr. Miguel Ángel Fortúnez, director of the entity, with the delegate in Lugo of the Official College of Mining Engineers of Northern Spain, Mr. Pedro Unzueta, and the delegate of the ICOG in Galicia, Mr. Pablo Núñez.

The director of EMC, Mr. José Manuel Domínguez, explained that this is a project that “contains substantial improvements to achieve zero risk, a key difference from other previous proposals”. It is committed to achieving environmental sustainability, in accordance with the company’s own commitments and with the strict regional, Spanish and European legislation. “We are convinced that it is possible to develop an economically viable and environmentally sustainable mining operation,” he said.

These words were echoed by Mr. Manuel Regueiro, who stressed that “Spain needs mineral resources, and in the case of Salave, there are some very interesting prospective resources”. “We as a collective believe that, within the law, we must allow private initiative to put in value the mineral resources of our country”, clarifying that Salave “is a project that respects the natural environment in which it is being executed”, and thus appealed to “not to criticize projects before they are materialized and to allow work based on the legal authorizations granted”.

For his part, the delegate in Lugo of the Official Association of Mining Engineers of Northern Spain, Mr. Pedro Unzueta, also highlighted Salave as a project “fully sustainable and compatible with the environment as laid out”. He also stressed that the project is “of interest” for the area, “both for the benefits that would be generated in the area and in the Spanish industry”.