Europa Metals Ltd (LON:EUZ) has been awarded a €466,801.50 grant by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology, a Spanish government entity operating under the umbrella of the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
The grant is for use towards research and development at the Europa’s wholly-owned Toral lead, zinc and silver project in the region of Castilla y León, north-west Spain.
The grant is categorised as a partly refundable loan with a nil per cent interest rate.
Europa Metals 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 €163,380, to be received by the company imminently.
Europa Metals anticipates that the grant will enable the company to apply for reductions in taxes payable relating mainly to labour costs.
Once the funds have demonstrably been spent on appropriate R&D exploration activity at the Toral project by the company, 70% of the total grant will be repayable with the balancing 30% then not required to be repaid.
At Toral, the company is working towards finalisation of a new, independent, economic report on the project, currently being undertaken by Bara Consulting. Certain elements of a re-feasibility study for the Toral Project are also underway, with the borehole for hydrogeological testing now complete, which will enable monitoring to commence.
"Following our recent successful £2mln equity raise, I am pleased to announce the awarding of this €466,801.50 grant by the Spanish governmental agency, CDTI,” said Europa chief executive Laurence Read in a statement.
“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. 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 Europa Metals begins its pre-feasibility study drilling campaign, following completion of the current ongoing economic study,” Read added.