Lithium Australia’s Sadisdorf project in Germany is set to expand after the company’s joint venture partner was awarded a nearby exploration licence with high-potential for tin-lithium mineralisation.
Shares in the Perth-based lithium processing technologist spiked by 10% on the news, reflecting the market’s positive sentiment already generated around the German project, located in the Eastern Ore Mountains in Saxony.
Lithium Australia last month announced a maiden resource of 25 million tonnes grading 0.45% lithium dioxide at Sadisdorf, which is a lithium mica deposit enveloped around an historic tin mine. The deposit is ideally suited to processing with Lithium Australia’s low-cost SiLeach process and is on the doorstep of Europe’s booming battery industry.
In a statement to the ASX, Lithium Australia reported that joint venture partner Tin International AG had been granted a new exploration licence covering 15 square kms around the Hegelshöhe hillside, just 5 kms southeast of the Sadisdorf licence.
“It is intended that Hegelshöhe, which is located in the same regional geological formation that hosts the lithium mica deposits of Sadisdorf, Zinnwald and Cinovech in the Czech Republic, be included in the joint exploration package,” the company said.
The Hegelshöhe licence shares its northern border with the Falkenhain lithium deposit, which is currently being explored by Deutsche Lithium and partner Bacanora Minerals.
Bacanora is best known for its offtake agreement with Tesla, based on a big lithium clays deposit in Sonora, Mexico, but the Canadian-based company is also aggressively developing lithium mica assets in Germany.
Lithium Australia said that, on the basis of historic mining and exploration activities around the Hegelshöhe licence area, Tin International considered there was a high likelihood of discovering substantial tin-lithium mineralisation.
Tin International’s new licence award follows news earlier this month that Lithium Australia has also been awarded an exploration licence in the Ore Mountains region, covering 133 square kms in the vicinity of Eichigt.
Meanwhile, a maiden drilling program at Sadisdorf, the first since 1990, is underway with initial results expected in February and final results by May. The resource is already potentially large enough to support a 25,000 tonne per annum lithium carbonate plant for 10 years, however Lithium Australia is looking to see how much this can be improved with modern exploration techniques.
By Matt Birney
