Esperanza Resources Announces Status Updates for Esperanza Environmental Permit Process

Esperanza Resources Corp. (TSXV:EPZ, OTCQX:ESPZF) announced that they have not yet received initial environmental permit application approval from the Mexican federal permitting authority, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente for their Esperanza gold project.

As quoted in the press release:

The Company and its advisors have completed an initial review of the notification. Pursuant to applicable regulation, authorization of the MIA has not been granted as the current MIA does not fully comply with NOM-155-SEMARNAT-2007, which establishes environmental protection requirements for leaching systems for gold and silver ores. The stated reasons are as follows:

The MIA reflects irregularities or inconsistencies in the categorization of the environmental climate in which the leach pad would reside; and
The MIA does not include sufficient hydro-geological assessment of the location in which the leach pad would reside

Esperanza’s President and CEO, Greg Smith, said:

We believe the reasons given by SEMARNAT for withholding approval at this time are reasonable and relate to deficiencies in the submitted MIA rather than issues with the project itself. Further, we are confident these deficiencies can be adequately resolved in a revised MIA. While disappointed with this initial result, we are pleased with the detailed assessment and consideration by SEMARNAT of the MIA and toward comments made by other government agencies and the public as a normal part of SEMARNAT’s review. This notification provides substantial clarity regarding permitting considerations for various aspects of the Esperanza gold project. The Company will focus on ensuring these considerations are sufficiently addressed to secure the approval of the revised MIA.

To view the whole press release, click here.