Talvivaara receives 'positive opinion' from EU commission, shares rise

Talvivaara, the Finland focused nickel and zinc miner, has this morning been notified by the European Commission of a 'positive opinion' on its uranium recovery processes, which in effect certifies that the company meets the mandated safeguards for supply security of nuclear fuel.

This is the second step in the 'uranium permitting process', upon completion of which the Finnish government would grant the company its license to produce uranium.

The news follows on the announcement of European Union approval, on the 30th of November of last year, for the company to supply uranium to Canadian outfit Cameco.

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Said metal will be sourced from Talvivaara's nickel mine in Sotkamo, central Finland, considered one of the biggest deposits of sulphide nickel in Europe. It's from the ore produced at Sotkamo that the firm intends to extract uranium.

The start of uranium production is further subject to the necessary environmental permits and a license from the Finnish Government to extract uranium as a by-product; receipt of the former is expected during the second quarter of 2012 while that of the latter is expected in the first months of this year.

At 09:40m shares of Talvivaara are leading gains on the FTSE 350, rising by 6.9% to 362.4p.

AB