Industry opens hearing to expire the Santa Leocadia mine in Toreno

The Territorial Service of Industry, Commerce, and Economy of León has opened the hearing process prior to the proposal to initiate the administrative procedure to declare the expiration of the resource exploitation concession of section D) “Santa Leocadia” no. 9,573, located in the municipality of Toreno (León) and owned by the defunct company “Minas Santa Leocadia, S.A.”. The announcement is published in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León no. 198, of October 13, 2026, page 38, within section I.E (E.2 Other Official Announcements), and grants interested parties a period of fifteen days to submit allegations and documentation.

The file is processed in application of the provisions of articles 46 and 92 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, and is issued prior to the drafting of the proposal to initiate the procedure. The announcement was signed in León on October 8, 2026, by the Head of the Territorial Service of Industry, Commerce, and Economy of León, Fernando Bandera González, and depends on the Department of Environment and Energy of the Regional Government of Castilla y León.

The process and its deadlines

The figure of expiration is activated when the causes provided for in the mining regulations and the Mining Law occur, and its declaration requires the processing of an administrative procedure with a hearing for all subjects with a legitimate interest. The announcement does not detail the specific causes motivating the proposal, but it does precisely identify the object of the file.

The elements established by the announcement are as follows:

• Acting body: Territorial Service of Industry, Commerce, and Economy of León.
• Dependent Department: Department of Environment and Energy.
• Affected concession: “Santa Leocadia” no. 9,573, of resources of section D).
• Owner: the defunct company “Minas Santa Leocadia, S.A.”.
• Location: municipality of Toreno, province of León.
• Deadline for allegations: fifteen days from the publication of the announcement.
• Signing date: October 8, 2026.

A wave of files in the Leonese mining basin

The announcement regarding “Santa Leocadia” is not an isolated case. In the preceding weeks, the same territorial service has published equivalent hearing processes against other defunct mining companies in El Bierzo and the Leonese mountains.

• «Antracitas de Matarrosa, S.A.»: expiration of all its resource exploitation concessions of section D) within the municipal boundaries of Páramo del Sil and Toreno, announcement published in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León no. 197, of October 9, 2026, p. 254.
• «Alto Bierzo, S.A.»: file D(CAD-AB).230928, affecting lands in Igüeña, Torre del Bierzo, Villagatón, Folgoso de la Ribera, Castropodame, Noceda del Bierzo, Toreno, Páramo del Sil, and Bembibre, published in no. 194, of October 6, 2026, p. 460.
• «Minas del Bierzo Alto, S.L.»: file D(CAD-MBA).230928, affecting the same municipalities, published in no. 194, of October 6, 2026, p. 461.

The common pattern is the extinction of the holding company, which obliges the Administration to direct the procedure to anyone who can prove a legitimate interest in the mining rights.

What is at stake

The declaration of expiration of an exploitation concession is not a merely formal act. It extinguishes the title that enables the utilization of the resources of section D) and opens the way for the lands to become free, with the consequences this has for the mining heritage and for land-use planning.

The announcement does not quantify the number of affected workers, the amount of outstanding debts, nor the status of the restoration works, details which do not appear in the published text. Nor does it nominally identify the creditors or the possible successors in ownership.

The publication serves a dual purpose: it guarantees the hearing of interested parties and provides general publicity to a procedure that, by affecting registered mining rights, may impact third parties who have not been individually located.

The opening of this process in Toreno adds to the sequence of files that the Ministry of Industry is promoting in the Leonese mining basin, anticipating a prolonged process of administrative liquidation of the mining rights of the extinct coal companies. For the affected municipalities, the outcome will determine whether the mining land is reorganized, restored, or remains awaiting new owners, and for those who hold credits or labor ties with «Minas Santa Leocadia, S.A.», the fifteen-day period is the only open window to assert their interests before the Territorial Service of Industry, Trade and Economy of León.

Source: Official Gazette of Castilla y León, no. 198, October 13, 2026, section I.E (E.2 Other Official Announcements), p. 38 (official reference: BOCYL-D-13102026-198-13).