European Lithium steps closer to NASDAQ listing alongside US$10m investment facility

Critical Metals Corp secures additional US$10m investment facility to fund the development of the Wolfsberg lithium project in Austria
Funds are part of deal between European Lithium and Sizzle to form new lithium exploration and development company
Critical Metals Corp will list on the NASDAQ

Critical Metals Corp has received another investment facility to fund its listing on the NASDAQ under symbol CRML and further develop the Wolfsberg lithium project in Austria.

Wolfsberg has already secured a mining permit, demonstrated the capability to supply high-purity lithium (99.6% lithium carbonate equivalent) in a pilot plant, and has a resource estimate of 12.88Mt at 1.00% Li2O.

A DFS at Wolfsberg – planned to be mined for roughly 15 years – forecast a post-tax NPV of US$1.5b at 6% weighted average cost of capital.

Plus, a binding offtake agreement with top-tier auto manufacturer BMW has already been secured for long-term lithium hydroxide supply from the asset.

Last year, European Lithium (ASX:EUR) entered into a business combination agreement with Sizzle Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:SZZL), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, to combine its Wolfsberg project with Sizzle as CRML.

Shareholders approved the transaction back in January, and now Sizzle and CRML have secured an additional investment facility from an investment vehicle managed by a New York based financial group, which is expected to provide CRML with US$10 million in capital at closing.

Funding Wolfsberg development

The proceeds from the facility are expected to be used to fund the development of the Wolfsberg lithium project in Austria.

“European Lithium and Critical Metals Corp. are excited to welcome another new investor, and more committed equity capital to fund the critical metals transaction as well as the Wolfsberg project,” European Lithium chairman Tony Sage said.

The company expects CRML to file an updated Form F-4 registration statement with the SEC, and keenly awaits the SEC’s response and/or SEC Effectiveness.

EUR also expects CRML to secure more capital in the following weeks, leading up to shareholder approval of the transaction.

Upon the closing of the transaction, EUR will be issued US$750 million worth of ordinary shares in CRML.

Austrian exploration plans

The plan at Wolfsberg going forward includes a binding agreement to build the hydroxide plant – a partnership with Obeikan to build the plant in Saudi Arabia with significant cost savings expected.

The company also plans to undertake resource extension drilling in Zone 2 to increase the mine life.

Meanwhile, EUR also picked up new lithium projects, comprising around 245 exploration licences across 114.6km2 roughly 70km north of the Wolfsberg project.

EUR plans to commence an initial work program shortly, with the ground considered prospective for lithium occurrences with initial surface sampling showing 3.98% Li2O.

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.