Orea Mining Corp. (“Orea”) (TSX: OREA) (OTCQB: OREAF) (FSE: 3CG) announces that the Supreme Court of France (Conseil d’État) has sent the ruling concerning the renewal of the Montagne d’Or mineral titles back to the Court of Appeals. Orea and its legal advisors remain confident of a positive outcome for Orea and its shareholders, however the timeline of a conclusive ruling cannot be reasonably predicted.
Montagne d’Or is a permitting stage, 5 million ounce open pit gold mine development project with good grade, excellent metallurgy, and considerable potential to increase ounces by infill and expansion drilling.*
The Supreme Court of France has determined that a provision under the applicable mining code whereby mineral titles could be renewed automatically for 25-years is unconstitutional, and has referred the proceedings back to the Court of Appeal of Bordeaux where the French government will be required to demonstrate that the Montagne d’Or project does not comply with environmental regulations.
In the opinion of Orea and its legal advisors, it will be challenging for the French government to demonstrate that Montagne d’Or mineral titles should not be renewed on environmental grounds, for various reasons, including:
in 2021 the Court of Appeal of Bordeaux previously rejected the French government’s request for an appeal citing that their environmental arguments were without merit;
Orea and Nordgold (the “JV”) completed 7 years of baseline environmental studies which resulted in one of the most comprehensive ESIA’s (Environmental and Social Impact Assessment) ever completed for mining permit applications in France;
the holding of numerous community and stakeholder meetings, and, of public hearings and workshops organized by the French government, which resulted in major modifications to the Montagne d’Or mine design; and most notably;
the French government commissioned a taskforce to assess the benefits and the impacts associated with the development of the gold mining industry in French Guiana, with an emphasis on Montagne d’Or, the most advanced large-scale gold project under development in France. The study was extremely favorable and strongly supported the Montagne d’Or mine development.
