Europa Metals (AIM:EUZ) has received an interest-free loan by way of a grant of €0.466m from Spanish public body the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (“CDTI”).
The CDTI, a Spanish entity which is under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, fosters the technological development and innovation of Spanish companies.
The European focused lead-zinc and silver developer said the grant will go towards research and development at its wholly owned Toral lead, zinc and silver project in north-west Spain.
Specifically, the grant, which holds a 0% interest rate, will allow money to be spent to contribute to the R&D aspects of the Company's Pre-Feasibility Study programme at Toral.
A partly refundable loan, the grant will advance technologies relating to the recording and correction of drillhole deviation at the project. The group said it also anticipates that the grant will enable it to apply for reductions in taxes payable relating mainly to labour costs.
EUZ will draw the grant monies down in up to three tranches, with the prior agreement of the CDTI, with the initial tranche, comprising an amount of €0.163m to be received imminently.
Once the funds have demonstrably been spent on appropriate R&D exploration activity at Toral, 70% of the grant will be repayable with the balancing 30% not required to be repaid.
Shares in Europa Metals, which have continued to increase over the past two weeks are trading 4.65% higher this morning at 11.25p following the announcement.
Europa is now working towards the finalisation of a new, independent, economic report on Toral, which is currently being undertaken by engineering consultancy, Bara Consulting.
Certain elements of a pre-feasibility study for the project are also underway with the bore hole for hydrogeological testing now complete, which will enable monitoring to commence.
Europa said it will update the market on anticipated further operational progress in due course, including the expected renewal of its three-year Investigation Permit for the project.
The grant also follows a successful £2 million equity raise by Europa back in August 2020.
“This interest free loan is a huge testament to the operational work performed at the Toral Project and our team's ability to establish innovative partnerships with local contractors and leading higher education establishments,” said Laurence Read, CEO of Europa Metals.
He added, “For some time, we have been progressing our work with the University of Salamanca and SPI to assess how the development of Toral could be utilised to assist the Castilla y León and Spain with innovation in the field of exploration.
Using Toral as a real time project our partnership with the AIR Institute and SPI shall field-test data collection and processing systems from the exploration drill rigs once EUZ begins its pre-feasibility study drilling campaign, following completion of the current ongoing economic study.”
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