Business · Companies · 7 hrs ago
A Gudiña orders work halted at tungsten mine without a licence
A Gudiña’s council ordered work stopped at the San Juan tungsten mine in Ourense, north-western Spain, because it lacked a municipal licence.
The project is being developed by Tungsten San Juan, a subsidiary of Swedish company Eurobattery Minerals.
CEO Roberto García Martínez is in pre-trial detention in Sweden over alleged aggravated fraud.
He was also given a two-year prison sentence in Spain for fraud linked to a mining investment in Sierra Leone, but that sentence was suspended with conditions.
The company’s board has lost several senior members, including its president, who resigned.
The mine would produce tungsten, a mineral the European Union considers critical, and Eurobattery had aimed to begin industrial production in the first quarter of 2027.
Environmental group Ecologistas en Acción wants the permit extension cancelled and the land restored; the sources do not say what will happen next to the project.
A Gudiña’s town council has ordered work halted at the San Juan tungsten mine because it lacks a licence.
The mine is in Pentes, in the municipality of A Gudiña in Ourense, Spain.
Eurobattery Minerals, the mine promoter’s parent company, said it aimed to begin industrial production in the first quarter of 2027.
The company’s chief executive, Roberto García Martínez, was placed in pre-trial detention in Sweden over suspected aggravated fraud offences.
Ecologistas en Acción has called for the mining permit extension to be cancelled and the restoration bond to be enforced.
- Who
- A Gudiña’s town council ordered the work halted. The mine is promoted by Tungsten San Juan, a subsidiary of Eurobattery Minerals.
- What
- Work at the San Juan tungsten mine was ordered to stop because it lacked a licence.
- When
- The order’s date is not stated. The article was published on 13 November 2026.
- Where
- The San Juan mine, in Pentes, A Gudiña, Ourense, Spain.
- Why
- The town council said the works lacked a licence.
Eurobattery Minerals
Ecologistas en Acción
Project plans
Eurobattery Minerals
Eurobattery said it had funding and aimed to reach first industrial production in the first quarter of 2027.
Ecologistas en Acción
The group has urged authorities to cancel the extension of the mining permit and enforce the restoration bond.
Work on the site
Eurobattery Minerals
The company said it intended to develop the mine.
Ecologistas en Acción
The group said serious interventions had taken place on specially protected forest land without a municipal licence or prior notification.
Spain’s Supreme Court issued a final sentence convicting Roberto García Martínez of fraud and ordering a fine and civil compensation.
Eurobattery Minerals was examining the conviction of its chief executive, according to the article.
Eurobattery said it had secured €6 million in financing and planned to start tungsten extraction in the first quarter of 2027.
Expansión reported that A Gudiña’s town council had ordered work at the mine to stop for lack of a licence.
- Mine
- San Juan tungsten mine
- Location
- Pentes, A Gudiña, Ourense
- Company
- Eurobattery Minerals; subsidiary Tungsten San Juan
- Planned first industrial production
- First quarter of 2027
- Announced financing
- €6 million
- Restoration bond demand
- Ecologistas en Acción called for it to be enforced
What people are saying
serious interventions
We have support to take San Juan to first industrial production in the first quarter of 2027.