Berkeley Energia Limited Notification of Investment Dispute (8523G)
18 November 2022 - 6:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMBKY
RNS Number : 8523G
Berkeley Energia Limited
18 November 2022
BERKELEY ENERGIA LIMITED
NEWS RELEASE | 18 November 2022
Berkeley submits Notification of Investment Dispute
Berkeley Energia Limited ("Berkeley" or the "Company") advises
that through the Company's wholly owned subsidiaries, Berkeley
Minera España, S.L.U. ("BME") and Berkeley Exploration Limited
("BEL"), it has submitted a written notification of an investment
dispute to the Prime Minister of Spain and the Ministry for the
Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge ("MITECO").
Berkeley's notification informs the Kingdom of Spain of the nature
of the dispute and the Energy Charter Treaty ("ECT") breaches, and
proposes to seek prompt negotiations for an amicable solution
pursuant to article 26.1 of the ECT.
In November 2021, the Company received formal notification from
MITECO that it had rejected the Authorisation for Construction for
the uranium concentrate plant as a radioactive facility ("NSC II")
at the Company's Salamanca project. This decision followed the
unfavourable report for the grant of NSC II issued by the Board of
the Nuclear Safety Council ("NSC") in July 2021.
Berkeley strongly refutes the NSC's assessment and, in the
Company's opinion, the NSC has adopted an arbitrary decision with
the technical issues used as justification to issue the
unfavourable report lacking in both technical and legal
support.
Berkeley submitted documentation, including an 'Improvement
Report' to supplement the Company's initial NSC II application,
along with the corresponding arguments that address all the issues
raised by the NSC, and a request for its reassessment by the NSC,
to MITECO in July 2021.
Further documentation was submitted to MITECO in August 2021, in
which the Company, with strongly supported arguments, dismantled
all of the technical issues used by the NSC as justification to
issue the unfavourable report. The Company again restated that the
project is compliant with all requirements for NSC II to be awarded
and requested its NSC II Application be reassessed by the NSC.
In addition, the Company requested from MITECO access to the
files associated with the Authorisation for Construction and
Authorisation for Dismantling and Closure for the radioactive
facilities at La Haba (Badajoz) and Saelices El Chico (Salamanca),
which are owned by ENUSA Industrias Avandas S.A., in order to
verify and contrast the conditions approved by the competent
administrative and regulatory bodies for other similar uranium
projects in Spain.
Based on a detailed comparison of the different licensing files
undertaken by the Company following receipt of these files, it is
clear that Berkeley, in its NSC II submission, has been required to
provide information that does not correspond to: (i) the regulatory
framework, (ii) the scope of the current procedural stage (i.e., at
the NSC II stage), and/or (iii) the criteria applied in other
licensing processes for similar radioactive facilities).
Accordingly, the Company considers that the NSC has acted in a
discriminatory and arbitrary manner when assessing the NSC II
application for the Salamanca project.
In Berkeley's strong opinion, MITECO has rejected the Company's
NSC II Application without following the legally established
procedure, as the Improvement Report has not been taken into
account and sent to the NSC for its assessment, as requested on
multiple occasions by the Company.
In this regard, the Company believes that MITECO have infringed
regulations on administrative procedures in Spain but also under
protection afforded to Berkeley under the ECT, which would imply
that the decision on the rejection of the Company's NSC II
Application is not legal.
The Company has previously submitted an administrative appeal
against MITECO's decision under Spanish law in December 2021 which
has still not been resolved to date.
Whilst Berkeley's focus is on resolving the current permitting
situation, and ultimately advancing the Salamanca project towards
production, the Company will continue to strongly defend its
position and take all necessary actions to preserve its rights.
More recently, there have also been numerous media reports
stating that Spain has initiated the procedure to withdraw from the
ECT.
The notification of an investment dispute submitted to the
Spanish Government is necessary in order to preserve the Company's
rights to initiate international arbitration should the dispute not
be satisfactorily resolved. The Company, however, has informed to
Spanish Government that it is prepared to collaborate and remains
hopeful that the dispute can be resolved amicably through prompt
negotiations.
The dispute notice is an initial step to request amicable
negotiations to overturn the rejection of NSC II and does not
currently comment on the size of any potential damages should the
dispute not be resolved amicably. Berkeley will continue to update
the market in relation to this matter as required.
For further information please contact:
Robert Behets Francisco Bellón
Acting Managing Director Executive Director
+61 8 9322 6322 +34 923 193 903
info@berkeleyenergia.com
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