Keskkonnaamet publishes this announcement under Subsection 2 of § 47 of the General Part of the Environmental Code Act (KeÜS).

Keskkonnaamet declares that OÜ MERKO KAEVANDUSED (registry code: 14872152) (address Järvevana tee 9g, Kesklinna linnaosa, Tallinn, Harju maakond, 11314) an application for an environmental permit for extraction of mineral resources submitted by the Varudi sand quarry Mountain allocation on 28.12.2023 has been accepted for processing. The application accepted is registered in the Environmental Decisions information System EAGLE 28.12.2023 with the number DM-126816-1. The applied sand quarry of Varudi is located in Lääne-Viru County, Viru-Nigula Parish, village of Varudi, partly covering the state-owned property Kunda metskond 39 (cadastral indicator 90301:001:0647, earmarked profit-making land 100%). The administrator of the state assets of a caster unit is the Ministry of Climate Affairs, an authorised authority the State Forest Management Centre. The approval of the State Forest Management Centre is appended to the application. The proposed mining allocation remains in the southwest corner of the cadastral unit, covering ~ 2% of the land unit. The area of the proposed mining claim is 24.27 ha and the area of the service area of the proposed mining claim is 24.84 ha. The quantity of mineral reserves of the requested aggregate sand in the sand quarry of Varudi is 1901 ash m3 (incl. the quantity of underwater reserves of 1669 ash m3). The average annual extraction rate applied for is 112 ash m3. An environmental permit for the extraction of mineral resources from the sandy quarry of Varudi is applied for for for a term of 15 years. The volume of the coating is 151 ash m3. According to the explanatory memorandum to the application, the nearest densely populated area is the city of Kunda, which is ~ 5 km from the mountain allocations from the bird flight and, in addition, the villages of Siberia and Kabeli ~ 2 km north. The northern boundary of the mining claim service area is directly adjacent to the Länsu Road (No 9020906), the eastern boundary directly adjacent to Kunda Forest 181 (cadastral code 90202:001:0199) and the southern boundary directly adjacent to Nurme (cadastral code 77002:002:0190), Raja (cadastral code 77002:002:0440) and Juhani (cadastral code 77001:001:0750). The nearest single household lies north of the mountain allocations, about 1.5 km from the bird's flight to the hunting Jahimaja property (cadastral code 90202:001:0101). The mining claim fully overlaps with the land improvement system VARUDI 3/PÜ-142 KUNDA-SONDA (registry code 1107290010070001). Conditional approval of the Agricultural and Food Board is appended to the application for an environmental permit. The service area of the mountain reserve for the applied sand quarry of Varudi fully overlaps (to the extent of 24.84 ha) with the core of the green network established by the comprehensive plan of Viru-Nigula Municipality. Compliance of an application for an environmental permit with the requirements provided for in the General Part of the Environmental Code Act and the Earth's Crust Act has been verified by the Environmental Board and the Land Board, the authorised processor of the list of mineral deposits in the environmental register. The application complied with the requirements. The Environmental Board shall disclose the application for an environmental permit in the official publication Official Announcements (www.ametlikudteadaanded.ee) and this letter. Environmental permit application No T-KL/1022081 and other relevant documents can be consulted in the Environmental Decisions information System under EAGLE (https://kotkas.envir.ee/), Procedure No M-126816 and documents No DM-126816. An application for an environmental permit shall be reviewed in the course of an open procedure. This means that before taking a decision, we will give interested parties and persons whose rights may be affected by the proposed action the opportunity to comment on the application and raise objections. In this context, we publish a notice concerning the acceptance of the application for processing in the publication Official Announcements. Due to the expected low level of environmental risk and disturbance associated with the planned activities of the enterprise and the lack of sufficient public interest, the notice is not published in the local or county newspaper. If you want information about further processing of the application, we will notify you by letter only if you have requested it by phone or e-mail. We ask that proposals or objections concerning the procedure of an application for an environmental permit be submitted in writing to the address info@keskkonnaamet.ee not later than within two weeks after receipt of the notice. In a statement, we would like to refer to EAGLE procedure number M-126816. If necessary, the Environmental Board shall organise a public discussion for the hearing of the matter. We will make a decision on granting an environmental permit within 365 days of receiving a valid application. We shall also inform the participants in the proceeding of a decision to grant or refuse to grant an environmental permit.

The with request environmental permit and other relevant documents are available on At the offices of the Environmental Board across Estonia.
The application shall be digitally available on https://kotkas.envir.ee/dokument/DM-126816-3 in the environmental decision information system

Until the issue or refusal to issue environmental permit decision is made, any person has the right to submit reasoned proposals and objections to the To the Environmental Board. Proposals and objections may be submitted orally or in writing to an e-mail address info@keskkonnaamet.ee or to a postal address Green 64, 80010 Pärnu. 

The draft of Decision to grant or refuse to grant environmental permit will be announced by the Environmental Board in the Official Announcements.