The provincial government has assessed “positively” Arrival of Chinese capital to promote the Mina Muga projecta potash extraction plant located between municipalities of Sangüesa (Navarra) and Undués de Lerda (Aragon)which plans to generate approximately 800 jobs.
The Navarrese Executive hopes that the agreement signed this Monday by the company Geoalcali with investors from the Asian country “allows us to strengthen economic relations with China in more sectors, in parallel with the commitment made by the Spanish government in the same direction.”
He First Vice President and Advisor to the Presidency and Equality of the Regional Government, Félix Taberna, received this Monday at the Palace of Navarre the Chinese delegation that signed the Mina Muga financing agreement, according to which Several strategic partners of the Asian country will contribute 220 million US dollars to promote the project.
He meeting with the regional government had the presence of Senior Management of Shandong Energy Group and Yankuang Energyone of the largest energy companies in China and Australia.
Next to Li Wei, Chairman of Shandong Energy, and Zhao Zhiguo, Chief Financial Officer of Yankuang EnergyAlso present were representatives of the Chinese investment bank DBS Securities, as well as the company that promotes the project in Navarre, Geoalcali, and its Australian parent company, Highfield Resources, among other companies and entities involved in the project. Miguel Moreno, General Director of Communication and Institutional Projection, and the General Director of Business Development, Iñigo Arruti, also participated in the meeting.
The position of the Regional Executive “coincides with that line of collaboration with China that the Spanish government has promoted.” During his recent visit to the Asian country, President Pedro Sánchez defended “the need to promote an economic relationship with the Asian country based on openness, with more trade and investment, especially in sectors such as advanced industrial technologies, the agri-food sector, green hydrogen, sustainable infrastructure, the circular economy or energy efficiency.”
“This agreement is part of the efforts made by the Spanish government to maintain a constructive willingness for dialogue and cooperation with Chinahighlighting Spain’s commitment to developing a positive agenda and seeking consensual solutions that benefit all parties, including Europe. This significant step forward for the start-up of Muga, with the commitment of financing from Chinese partners, is the materialization of this type of beneficial synergies for all parties,” the Regional Executive said in a statement.
MUGA MINE PROJECT
Mina Muga is a potash mining projectlocated in the municipalities of Sangüesa and Javier (Navarra) and Undués de Lerda (Aragon), promoted by the company Geoalcali SLU, a subsidiary of Highfield Resources Ltd.
Currently, It is the largest mining project in Spain.. To date, it has invested more than 100 million euros. Mina Muga “has all the key permits to advance construction”. It is configured as “one of the main industrial engines generating jobs thanks to a non-relocatable company, because it is linked to environmental geology”.
This will mean “a significant socio-economic boost, contribute to the settlement of the population in rural areas suffering from a marked depopulation problem, creating more than 800 jobs and opening up future opportunities for the regional community.
Muga mine will produce “a strategic mineral like potash”base for the production of fertilizers used mainly in wheat, corn and soybean crops.
