European Lithium extension drilling hits visible spodumene

European Lithium’s Wolfsberg drilling appears to be meeting its objectives with large visible spodumene crystals observed in the drill core.

The intersection of spodumene – a key lithium mineral – is certainly encouraging and indicates that the geology encountered to date is in line with the company’s geological model.

European Lithium (ASX:EUR) adds that drilling is on target and is currently coming in below budget while the target depth of 440.7m has been reached.

The resource extension drilling program is aimed at increasing the current Measured and Indicated resource of 6.3Mt at 1.17% lithium oxide to 10.98Mt Measured and Indicated at 1% lithium oxide for the definitive feasibility study.

This will be achieved by upgrading 4.98Mt of Inferred resource grading 0.78 per cent lithium oxide to the higher confidence Indicated or Measured status.

Indicated resources have sufficient geology and grade continuity information to support mine planning while Measured resources provide a further degree of geologic knowledge and confidence.

“Given the challenging times we are facing at present, our progress at the Wolfsberg Lithium Project is encouraging and shows our strong commitment to fast-track the project and support future demand for lithium to fuel the evolution of Europe to clean energy,” chief executive officer Dietrich Wanke noted.

european lithium drill core spodumene wolfsberg — Large spodumene crystals in Wolfsberg drill core. Pic: Supplied

Well positioned project

With its location just 270km south of Vienna, Austria, the Wolfsberg lithium project is perfectly positioned to feed Europe’s growing appetite for battery metals as the shift towards electric vehicles continues.

A pre-feasibility study has already estimated that the project could produce 10,129tpa of lithium hydroxide in the accelerated case.

This would in turn deliver net present value – a measure of a project’s profitability – of $US339.4m (AUD$437.9m) based on the 10.98Mt resource.

There is also significant potential for growth given that the current resource is contained entirely within the project’s Zone 1 and previous drilling in the first quarter of 2018 on the other half of the project (Zone 2) returned positive results and could potentially double resources.

This article was developed in collaboration with European Lithium, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.