Halo Minerals (AIM:HALO), the AIM-listed copper development company focused on extracting critical minerals from legacy mining waste, said Chile's First Environmental Tribunal has rejected in its entirety a judicial challenge to the environmental approval granted for its Playa Verde project.
The challenge, filed on 28 November 2025 by Manuel Cortés Alfaro, sought to overturn the Chilean Committee of Ministers' October 2025 decision to grant a favourable environmental qualification for the project.
The Tribunal found three of the four grounds, covering the marine environment, water resources and a nearby priority conservation site, fell outside its jurisdiction because the claimant had not exhausted prior administrative remedies, and dismissed them without reviewing their merits.
It ruled the Committee of Ministers had sufficient technical evidence to conclude the project poses no significant health risk, and upheld Halo's commitment to cap arsenic concentrations in return sands at 47 mg/kg.
Andrew Dennan, chief executive of Halo Minerals, called the ruling "a significant milestone de-risking Playa Verde and validating the extensive technical, environmental and scientific work undertaken by the project team over many years".
Playa Verde aims to recover copper from historical tailings at Playa Grande, Chañaral, while reducing arsenic in material returned to the beach.
Halo is working with BIOS Mining & Infrastructure to update capital and operating cost estimates to bankable feasibility study standard, expected within weeks, and is in discussions with potential industrial capital partners on project funding through the second half of the year.
The company continues to target a final investment decision on Playa Verde by the end of 2026.
News Intelligence what this means for the company
Chile's First Environmental Tribunal has fully rejected a legal challenge to Playa Verde's environmental approval, clearing a material regulatory hurdle for the copper tailings project. The tribunal upheld the October 2025 environmental qualification and validated Halo's arsenic containment commitments, removing a near-term litigation risk that could have delayed or derailed the project ahead of a targeted final investment decision by end-2026.
- BIOS Mining & Infrastructure's bankable feasibility study update—expected within weeks—now proceeds without the overhang of pending tribunal review, potentially accelerating the timeline to industrial capital partner discussions flagged for H2 2025.
The ruling de-risks Playa Verde's path to FID by eliminating the most immediate legal challenge to its environmental foundation. However, the company still requires a completed BFS, secured project funding, and approval of its maritime concession application (with DIRECTEMAR and the Chilean Ministry of Defence) to unlock the ~100 million tonne tailings resource that could more than double the current 53 Mt onshore resource.
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