Talvivaara Mining Company Plc was granted an environmental permit decision relating to water discharges by the Northern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency

Stock Exchange Release
Talvivaara Mining Company Plc
31 May 2013


Talvivaara was granted an environmental permit decision relating to water
discharges by
the Northern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency
Volume quota on water discharges removed, restrictions based on amount of
contaminants


Talvivaara Mining Company Plc ("Talvivaara" or the "Company") announces that its
operating subsidiary, Talvivaara Sotkamo Ltd, has today received from the
Northern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency ("AVI") an environmental
permit decision relating to the storage, treatment and discharge of waters to
the Oulujoki and Vuoksi water systems.

The permit decision contains regulations pertaining to, amongst others,
treatment and storage of waters and permit limits for discharges into downstream
water ways. The permit decision removes the annual 1.3 Mm(3) discharge quota for
purified waste waters, which has in part caused the accumulation of excess
waters at the mine site. The permit conditions pertaining to maximum
concentrations of harmful substances, among others sulphate, and maximum
discharge flow rate will however restrict the volume of discharged waters in the
future.

The permit decision requires the Company to direct the water contained in the
existing gypsum ponds to neutralisation or back to leach solution circulation by
31 October 2013. Talvivaara is also required to supply the permitting
authorities with several clarifications regarding, among others, the reduction
of water management related risks and prevention of environmental contamination.

According to the Company's preliminary assessment, the permit decision includes
certain conditions, which are restrictive in view of the prevailing
circumstances and compliance with these conditions requires changes to the
current water management plan. However, mining operations at the Kuusilampi open
pit can continue within the conditions set by the permit and the decision does
not impact operations at the metals recovery plant.

The permit decision was granted the commencement right by AVI and therefore the
Company can commence operating in accordance with the decision regardless of
appeal. Talvivaara will continue to familiarize itself with the permit decision
and updates its water management plan to correspond to the permit conditions.
Based on the Company's preliminary view, AVI's decision does not allow the
Company to alleviate the risk level resulting from the challenging water balance
situation at the Talvivaara mine site at the pace desired by the Company, and
the Company thus considers appealing against parts of the permit decision where
considered necessary.

In accordance with the permit decision, AVI will process the claims for
compensation relating to potential damages caused by Talvivaara's operations
later. Talvivaara will however place a EUR 1,500,000 guarantee for potential
compensations set in accordance with the requirements of the principle of
caution. AVI has also requested the Company to investigate whether any
recoverable damages have occurred and to prepare a proposal on the compensation
of potential damages.

AVI continues to process the applications for the update of Talvivaara's
environmental permit and the environmental permit for uranium recovery. The
Company expects to receive these permit decisions in the autumn of 2013 at the
earliest.

CEO Pekka Perä comments:"The permit decision we have received from the Northern
Finland Regional State Administrative Agency relating to the storage, treatment
and discharge of waters corresponds, for example relating to sulphate
discharges, to the level we applied for in our notification of exception under
the Environmental Protection Act in February 2013. Whilst the permit decision
corresponds to our application for this part, it also includes multiple other
details, the impact of which we will need to clarify in further depth. The key
aspect, however, is that the permit decision enables the continuation of
production at Talvivaara according to plan. The permit also allows for the
continued reduction of water management-related risks, albeit at a slower pace
than we would have hoped for."

Enquiries:
Talvivaara Mining Company Plc Tel: +358 20 712 9800
Pekka Perä, CEO
Eeva Ruokonen, Chief Sustainability Officer

Talvivaara Mining Company Plc
Talvivaara Mining Company is an internationally significant base metals producer
with its primary focus on nickel and zinc using a technology known as
bioheapleaching to extract metals out of ore. Bioheapleaching makes extraction
of metals from low grade ore economically viable. The Talvivaara deposits
comprise one of the largest known sulphide nickel resources in Europe. The ore
body is estimated to support anticipated production for several decades.
Talvivaara has secured a 10-year off-take agreement for 100 per cent of its main
output of nickel and cobalt to Norilsk Nickel and entered into a long-term zinc
streaming agreement with Nyrstar NV. Talvivaara is listed on the London Stock
Exchange Main Market and NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Further information can be found
at www.talvivaara.com.

Talvivaara environmental permit decision relating to water discharges :
http://hugin.info/136227/R/1706128/564603.pdf



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Source: Talvivaaran Kaivososakeyhtiö Oyj via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1706128]




Unternehmen: Talvivaaran Kaivososakeyhtiö Oyj - ISIN: FI0009014716