26
Feb/16

EDM – Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro

News
| 26 February 2016

EDM – Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro and ESAN, a company belonging to the Eczacibasi Group, today signed an agreement that will ensure an investment of 7.6 million euros in prospection and research activities over the next three years, in three areas in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Alentejo).

The contract signed will allow research to be conducted to determine the potential of each of the areas for mining, an investment that may progress to the development of mining operations if positive results are obtained, which will contribute to the socioeconomic development of several municipalities in the Alentejo region.

The prospection, which will take place in cooperation with the technical teams of both companies, is related to the search for deposits of copper, zinc, lead and other associated minerals and will involve various technical phases, namely a detailed geological survey, geophysics works involving different methods and, if any anomaly is found, drilling in order to confirm the identification of any mineral deposits.

Under the agreement, ESAN assumes 85% of the three areas in the Iberian Pyrite Belt, one of the principal mining regions in Europe, and the respective investment, with EDM accounting for 15%.

In the immediate future, this agreement represents an investment and the movement of people into the areas where they will carry out the work, providing significant benefits to Portugal in terms of increasing geology knowledge of the country.

ESAN, a company belonging to the Eczacibasi Group, is engaged in the mining of non-ferrous metal raw materials and owns mines producing zinc and lead, as well as non-metallic minerals, namely feldspar, quartz and special clays and sands, among others. These raw materials are intended for the ceramics, glass, inks and building materials industries, of which the Eczacibasi Group is one of leading suppliers and producers in over 40 countries.

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