Critical Metals to post updated feasibility for Wolfsberg lithium project in Q1

Critical Metals Corp. (NASDAQ: CRML) said on Thursday it expects to deliver a new definitive feasibility study for its Wolfsberg lithium asset — Europe’s first fully permitted spodumene project — in next year’s first quarter.

Located in 270 km southwest of Vienna, Austria, Wolfberg could also become Europe’s first lithium concentrate producer, with first production targeted for 2026/27. 

The current feasibility study for Wolfsberg is based solely on the S-K 1300-compliant resources calculated in 2023 from Zone 1, totalling 12.9 million tonnes at an average lithium oxide grade of 1% Li2O, of which 9.7 million tonnes are in the measured and indicated category.

However, the company believes it could potentially double this resource by advancing exploration at Zone 2. Drilling by past owners in this area returned pegmatite intersections of up to 7 metres with grades up to 2.49% Li2O. Resources from both Zone 1 and 2 are expected to support an estimated mine life of over 20 years, according to the company’s latest investor presentation.

“With the recent approval for Zone 2 drilling at the Wolfsberg project, we are excited to further enhance the upside potential of this transformational lithium asset for our stakeholders,” Tony Sage, the company’s CEO and executive chairman said in a release.

The project already has the backing of German carmaker BMW, which entered into a long-term lithium offtake agreement in December 2022 and made a prepayment of US$15 million to Critical Metals earlier this year. The offtake agreement currently excludes lithium mined from Zone 2.

To convert the lithium concentrate to be produced at Wolfsberg, the company teamed up with the Obeikan Group in July to build a lithium hydroxide processing plant in Saudi Arabia. Once commissioned, the refinery — to be held under a 50/50 joint venture — is expected to produce up to 20,000 tonnes of battery-grade material. It will also be the first lithium hydroxide processing plant within the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region.

In order to hone the technical expertise of the team for the development of the plant, the joint venture partners will be inspecting two hydroxide plants in China, the world leader in battery production, later this year, Critical Metals said.

In addition to Wolfsberg, the company is also advancing one of the world’s largest rare earth resources, the Tanbreez project in Greenland. It bought a large stake in the project earlier in the year.

Shares in Critical Metals were down 7.7% by 1:45 p.m. EDT, trading at US$5.79 apiece in New York for a market capitalization of US$525.1 million. They had recovered to US$6.03 by the end of the day.