On 7 October 2011 Ministry of Environment issued Eesti Energia the mining permit to Uus-Kiviõli mine. The permit will become effective from January 2014 and is valid for 25 years. Annual mining right of Uus-Kiviõli is 4.2 million tonnes of oil shale. Uus-Kiviõli mining area is 6,206.7 ha with active resource of 208 million tonnes of oil shale (which translates into approx. 150 million tonnes of commercial oil shale).

Total active resource of oil shale licensed to Eesti Energia amounted to 362 million tonnes as at 31 December 2010. Existing mining permits allow Eesti Energia to mine up to 15 million tonnes of oil shale resource annually.

Eesti Energia operates 2 underground mines and 2 open pit mines. In 2010 Eesti Energia mined 18 million tonnes of commercial oil shale.