Berkeley Energia adds drilling momentum as Spain arbitration advances

Arbitration claim reaches its first major test

Berkeley Energia Limited (ASX:BKY) is taking its Salamanca uranium dispute with Spain into a potentially decisive procedural phase, with an ICSID hearing on jurisdictional objections scheduled for mid-2027. The company’s subsidiary Berkeley Exploration Limited is seeking approximately US$1.25 billion in compensation under the Energy Charter Treaty, alleging that Spain’s actions concerning Berkeley Minera España and the Salamanca Project breached treaty protections.

“Location of the Salamanca Project, Spain”

The tribunal has split the case into two phases. The first will address Spain’s objections concerning denial of benefits; only after that would the proceedings move to the merits and the amount of any damages. Spain filed its memorial in July, while Berkeley filed its counter-memorial in October. Reply and rejoinder submissions remain pending. The Respondent has also requested security for costs, an issue Berkeley said it will answer during the next quarter. The company remains open to discussions with Spanish authorities over an amicable permitting resolution.

The procedural advance is significant, but it is not a ruling on Berkeley’s claim or an indication that compensation will be awarded. The company’s US$1.25 billion arbitration claim was previously reported as centred on alleged Energy Charter Treaty breaches linked to the stalled Salamanca project.

Salamanca remains a large asset without production

Salamanca continues to carry the company’s central development case, with a reported Mineral Resource of 89.3 million pounds of uranium. More than two-thirds is classified as Measured or Indicated, and Berkeley points to its 2016 Definitive Feasibility Study, which described the project as potentially one of the world’s lowest-cost uranium operations. There was no mining or production activity during the September quarter.

Spain’s political timetable has become more compressed. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap general election for 29 November, bringing the vote forward from 2027 after the minority government lost parliamentary support for two emergency housing measures. Separately, Spain has extended the operating life of both Almaraz reactors to June 2030 and renewed the Juzbado nuclear fuel plant’s authorisation for ten years, although the government continues to maintain its wider plan to close the country’s remaining nuclear plants by 2035.

Conchas drilling tests the lithium-rubidium resource

While Salamanca remains tied up in permitting and arbitration, Berkeley is advancing a second Spanish minerals story. Its Conchas project holds an 11.8-million-tonne Inferred Mineral Resource grading 0.41% lithium oxide and 0.21% rubidium oxide, equivalent to approximately 49,000 tonnes of contained Li2O and 25,200 tonnes of contained Rb2O. The resource is entirely Inferred and is not a Mineral Reserve, so further drilling and economic work will be needed before its development status can be assessed.

“Conchas Location and Geological Map”

“Conchas Cross Section”

Caption and image © Berkeley Energia Limited. From “Quarterly Report September 2026”, 30 Oct 2026.

Berkeley completed 18 close-spaced reverse-circulation holes for 722 metres during October, designed to examine short-range grade variability and inform future drilling patterns. Assays from 659 samples are pending. The result could help test the geological continuity behind the maiden estimate, but the filing provides no new grades or resource upgrade from this programme. The company’s maiden Conchas resource previously highlighted the project’s near-surface lithium and rubidium mineralisation and preliminary processing results.

Board and balance sheet support the Spanish strategy

Berkeley ended the quarter with A$60 million in cash and no debt. Exploration and development payments totalled A$539,000 for the quarter, including A$138,000 of permitting-related expenditure, while related-party payments were A$86,000 under existing remuneration and consulting arrangements.

The company also appointed José Bogas Gálvez, former chief executive of Spanish utility Endesa, as an independent non-executive director. Berkeley says his more than 40 years in Spain’s electricity and nuclear sectors, together with his business and government networks, will assist its efforts around Salamanca. It has also received the La Majada investigation permit in Ciudad Real for antimony and other metallic resources, and applied for exploration rights covering 219 square kilometres in Portugal adjoining the Conchas area.

“Digital terrain model of the La Majada IP showing the permit boundary, historic Sb workings and mineral occurrences.”

“Conchas drill collar plan showing the northern and southern L-shaped variability drilling patterns.”

Caption and image © Berkeley Energia Limited. From “Quarterly Report September 2026”, 30 Oct 2026.

That leaves Berkeley with three separate potential catalysts, each carrying a different kind of uncertainty: the next procedural step in the ICSID case, the political direction after Spain’s election and the pending Conchas assays. The first two may shape the company’s flagship uranium project; the third will determine whether its newer critical-minerals strategy can move beyond an entirely Inferred resource.