The Economic Court of Kiev denied a private company to satisfy the claim for the use of subsoil - one of the largest deposits of lithium ores in Ukraine, the press service of the Office of the Prosecutor General reports.
“It has been established that a private company, despite the requirements of the law and in the absence of a special permit for the use of subsoil, without holding an auction, filed a lawsuit against the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine to recognize the right to use and remove obstacles to the use of Shevchenko lithium ore deposit in Donetsk region, ”it was reported.
Justifying his position, the prosecutor insisted that the enterprise is illegally out of competition trying to get the Shevchenko deposit in the Donetsk region of Ukraine for use for the extraction of lithium ores.
The Shevchenkovskoye field with an area of 39.84 hectares is located in the Donetsk region. The C1 category lithium ore reserves amount to 5.67 million tons, C2 category reserves - over 8 million tons. Available accompanying minerals - tantalum, niobium, beryllium ores.
In February 2018, Petro-Consulting, without an auction, received a special permit to work at the Shevchenko lithium ore deposit, which is one of two explored lithium deposits in Ukraine. The firm then announced that it would involve a foreign investor in the project, and work would begin in 2021.
By the decision of the Supreme Court of April 16, 2020 in case No. 826/7696 /18, at the suit of the Deputy Prosecutor General, the special permit for the use of the Shevchenko deposit, granted by Petro-Consulting LLC, was canceled.
On December 9, 2020, the Economic Court of Kiev satisfied the application of Petro-Consulting LLC and forbade the State Geological Survey of Ukraine to provide third parties with a special permit for the Shevchenko field. The State Geological Service and filed an appeal against this decision of the Economic Court of Kiev.
On March 11, 2021, the Sixth Court of Appeal overturned, at the suit of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the decision of the previous instance on the issuance by the State Geology and Subsoil Service of a special permit for the development of a lithium deposit to the company Petro-Consulting LLC.
