Name of the Project
Wolfsberg lithium project.

Location
The mine and concentrator site are located about 20 km east of Wolfsberg, and the hydrometallurgical plant is located to the south of Wolfsberg, in Austria.

Project Owner/s
Critical Metals Corp, in which European Lithium holds about 83%. 

Project Description
Wolfsberg is expected to be the first licensed lithium mine in Europe.

The definitive feasibility study (DFS) proposes an average mine production rate of 780 000 t/y, peaking at 840 000 t/y over the life-of-mine (LoM), which is based on an ore reserve of 11.48-million tonnes, mined over 14.6 years.

The DFS envisages two integrated operations, a mining and processing operation, to produce a lithium concentrate (spodumene), and a hydrometallurgical plant to convert the spodumene into battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM).

The hydrometallurgical plant is expected to produce 8 800 t/y of LHM, with a total production of about 129 000 t of LHM over the LoM.

Total spodumene concentrate production is estimated at 90 000 t, coarse feldspar at 1.95-million tonnes, fine feldspar at 587 000 t, total coarse quartz at one-million tonnes and total fine quartz at 164 000 t.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at a 6% discount rate (weighted average cost of capital), of $1.5-billion and an internal rate of return of 33.3%, with a payback of 6.75 years.

Capital Expenditure
Estimated capital expenditure is estimated at $873-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
European Lithium has announced a shareholders agreement with Obeikan Group to build and commission a large-scale hydroxide processing plant, in Saudi Arabia, to convert spodumene concentrate from the project.

The newly established 50:50 joint venture (JV), Arabian New Energy, will aim to have an exclusive right to buy spodumene mined from the current resource at Wolfsberg.

The facility is expected to meet the minimum initial capacity and product specifications based on the binding long-term supply agreement with automotive group BMW.

“This is another huge milestone for the Wolfsberg project following . . . the recent $15-million commitment made by BMW. We now have two very dedicated partners to ensure we fulfil our ambition of becoming the first European producers of . . . spodumene and hydroxide,” executive chairperson Tony Sage has said.

After these key milestones have been achieved, the next steps in the development of Wolfsberg will be “a lot easier”.

Over the next two quarters Critical Metals expects to finalise the DFS on the now separated projects and secure the necessary funding to start construction.

The board of the newly formed JV will appoint a leading engineering, construction and procurement management firm to oversee the construction of the hydroxide plant. 

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
DRA (DFS); Dorfner Anzaplan (metallurgical testwork, in support of DRA process engineering); SENET – South Africa (hydrometallurgical plant study, on behalf of DRA); SRK Consulting (mining engineering and mine capital and operating cost estimates, geotechnical engineering, hydrogeology and ore reserves); Paterson & Cooke (tailings design with capital and operating cost estimate); Orykton Consulting (marketing study spodumene, battery-grade lithium hydroxide and by-products); Mine-IT Sanak-Oberndorfer – Austria (resource evaluation); Umweltbüro – Austria (environmental baseline studies); DLA Piper – Austria (mining law); Haslinger Nagele – Austria (permitting regime) Kärntner Montanindustrie – Austria (liaison with Austrian authorities); Benchmark Mineral Intelligence – UK (marketing study for lithium carbonate/hydroxide); Gambosch Consulting – Australia (analysis of lithium market); Cresco Project Finance – South Africa (financial model, on behalf of DRA); ZAMG – Austria (meteorology seismic snow-wind loads for both project sites).

Contact Details for Project Information
St Brides Partners, on behalf of Critical Metals, tel +44 20 7236 1177 or email info@stbridespartners.co.uk.