European Lithium has set its sights on growing the scale of its Wolfsberg lithium project in Austria as it powers towards its definitive feasibility study.
European Lithium (ASX:EUR) has completed its major Phase 2 drilling program at Wolfsberg, where it is has set a target of upgrading its resource to 11 million tonnes at a grade of 1% lithium oxide.
The current Measured and Indicated resource at Wolfsberg tally a combined 6.3Mt with a grade of 1.17%, but almost 8000m of drill core across 20 holes in the DFS drilling program should enable the lithium developer to grow that base significantly. Assay results from drilling are expected in September.
Those results have included a standout 1.91m hit at 2.4% lithium oxide, demonstrating the potential for even higher grades as EUR edges towards declaring an increase in overall resource tonnage.
Metallurgical test results have also been on point, with European Lithium looking to firm up its credentials as a battery-grade lithium chemical producer.
“It is an excellent performance by all partners working on the drilling program to achieve the highly promising outcome as part of our Definite Feasibility Study (DFS),” CEO Dietrich Wanke said.
“Especially, the true thickness of up to 1.91m with a grade reaching 2.4% in Li2O content shows the promising upside potential of our lithium deposit near Wolfsberg in Austria.
“The ongoing metallurgic LCTs (locked cycle tests) will provide the company the essential QA/QC to ensure sustainable long-term production for battery lithium products at highest standards.”
Further growth once operations begin
While the primary aim of the current drilling program has been to increase resources for the upcoming Wolfsberg DFS, it is also pointing to future sources of lithium rich pegmatites.
Extensions have been identified to the current resource in the new Zone 2 discovery.
That will be drilled out further once the mine is operational, with European Lithium planning to limit capex by using operating cash flows to drill out Zone 2.
“Results confirm the potential of Zone 2 to mirror the resources declared in Zone 1,” European Lithium chairman Tony Sage said.
“The existence of Zone 2 and its potential for future development has been shown and announced as well. The Company continues to develop a post-DFS strategy to target Zone 2 exploration during the active production cycle.”
“This will be based on the current project development to be shown in the DFS and fast track now the conversion into an active operation, but the future Zone 2 development will be linked to operational cash flow avoiding capex to be spent on resource drilling.”
Drilling at Wolfsberg is scheduled to wrap up today, after European Lithium drafted a second rig to site to expedite the process back in May.
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.