Mäetaguse rural municipality agreed to issue mining permit to OÜ VKG Aidu Oil

By its resolution of 22 April 2004, the Mäetaguse rural municipality council granted its conditional approval to the application of OÜ VKG Aidu Oil for a mining permit.

The conditions presented by the Mäetaguse rural municipality were not unknown to the company. “We definitely agree with the rural municipality that we must preserve nature and the human environment”, said Janek Parkman, the Chairman of the Management Board of VKG (Viru Keemia Grupp AS). “It is our intention to establish a mine that preserves the environment to the maximum extent”, he noted.
To accomplish this, additional water surveys have already been commenced on the territory of the mine area. The Tallinn Technical University Professor Enn Loigu in cooperation with groundwater and bog specialists will submit an interim report on the progress of the works in June 2004.

OÜ VKG Aidu Oil, a subsidiary of VKG, has been seeking the mining permit since autumn 2002. There is virtually no human population in the Ojamaa mine area, 80% of which is located on the state land. The oil shale resources there are of the best quality of all the existing oil shale reserves.
The Ministry of the Environment will decide on the issue of the mining permit.

The annual maximum output of the Ojamaa mine is estimated to be four million tonnes of oil shale. In addition to the mine, it is also planned to establish a new oil factory, the technological advantages of which would include a significantly lower energy use, almost non-existent water consumption and a larger oil yield.

The mine planned by OÜ VKG Aidu Oil would create 500 new jobs at the minimum, 100 in the oil factory to be founded and 400 in the mine.

Elina Kink
Public Relations Manager of VKG
GSM +372 523 2700
E-mail: elina.kink(at)vkg.ee