Altona Energy: 'Verbal approval' received for China mining project

Local government representatives in China have given AIM-listed Altona Resources 'verbal approval for mining to proceed' in the Xinjiang autonomous region, a company update has reported.

The news follows Altona's announcement on December 12th, that the timeline for the conversion of one of its coal exploration licences in Xinjiang had been extended to June 30th 2013.

Since that announcement the company reported that "good progress" had been made towards securing the necessary approvals from authorities for the issue of the mining licence.

"In meetings between representatives of Altona and the local government responsible for sanctioning mining in the area where EL1 [as one of the advanced exploration licences is known] is located, the local government representatives have given verbal approval for mining to proceed," the report stated.

Altona also reported that the application had been submitted to the Xinjiang regional government for final written approval which was now expected to be received prior to June 30th.

Altona's share price was down 1.75% to 1.40p at 10:57 on Wednesday.

MF