Stock market hit for Berkeley Energía. The result of the elections has affected the owner of the uranium mine project in Retortillo (Salamanca) and the stock market has collapsed with a drop of more than 38%. The fact that a door is opened so that the PSOE can renew its government, has caused the titles of the Australian group to remain at 38.4%, being the value most punished in the Spanish market during the day of this Monday.
Thus, the company lowered the value of its shares to 0.251 euros. The uranium mine project in Retortillo is currently paralyzed by government decision. Last February, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge dismissed the administrative appeal filed by Berkeley against the dismissal by this same department of the authorization to build the uranium concentrator plant as an active radio facility in the Salamanca project.
The cabinet led by Teresa Ribera had already rejected the ‘NSC II’ project in November 2021 after receiving an unfavorable report for the concession issued by the Nuclear Safety Council Board (CSN) in July of that same year. At the end of last year, Berkeley Energia already opened the door to file an arbitration against the Government of Spain due to the blockade situation in which its project finds itself.
Thus, last April, the company announced its decision to carry out its ‘battle’ with the Government in the Spanish courts by filing a contentious-administrative appeal before the National Court. The group thought that the Ministry’s decision infringed the regulations on administrative procedures in Spain, but also the protection granted to Berkeley by the Energy Charter Treaty, which would imply that the decision to deny the company’s ‘NSC II’ application “is not legal”.
Firmly defending your position
However, this Monday in a statement to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), Berkeley reiterated that, although its objective is to resolve the current permit situation and, ultimately, advance the Salamanca project towards production, it will continue to “firmly defend its position and take all necessary measures to preserve its rights.”
In this sense, he reiterated that the initiation of the contentious-administrative appeal is necessary to preserve his rights, although he remains willing to collaborate with the competent authorities and “maintains the hope that the permit situation can be resolved amicably.” Likewise, the group highlighted that the prospects for the global nuclear energy and uranium market “continued to strengthen” during this second quarter of the year.
