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A decree issued by Austria’s Carinthian state has given Critical Metals (Nasdaq: CRML) a significant boost by waiving the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) step for its proposed lithium mine located 270 km southwest of Vienna.
CRML said this decree is an important step on the way to realizing the project and establishing a European battery supply chain for electromobility. The company’s Wolfsberg lithium project represents the first fully permitted spodumene mine on the continent, with first production targeted for 2026/2027.
“This decree makes the Wolfsberg project the first new mining project within the EU that is able to pave the way into the fast-track approval process for new mining projects in the critical minerals sector,” CEO Tony Sage said in a news release.
“This is a significant milestone towards sustainable production of lithium from Austrian mining extraction in an integrated European supply chain located in the heart of Europe,” Sage said.
The project is being backed by German carmaker BMW, which entered into a long-term lithium offtake agreement in December 2022 and made a prepayment of $15 million to the company earlier this year.
According to CRML, the decree was issued following an audit by official experts from the departments of forestry, nature conservation, geology, hydrogeology, waste management, chemistry, process engineering, water ecology and water management, as well as torrent and avalanche control.
The assessment by the EIA authority covered the entire project on the Koralpe mountain range, where the proposed underground mine operation is situated. Since the above-ground facilities required by the project are less than 10 hectares, the experts concluded that no EIA is required by law.
The company said its primary focus now for the Wolfsberg project is financing the start of mining and continuing to pursue approval of the plant and the mining operations plan. The decision not to carry out an EIA is expected to have a positive effect on financing, it added.
CRML is also expected to deliver a new definitive feasibility study for the Wolfsberg lithium project in the first quarter of 2025, incorporating a second mineralized zone that could potentially double the current resource of 12.9 million tonnes at an average lithium oxide grade of 1% and support a mine life of 20 years.
Despite Monday’s announcement, CRML’s stock fell 9.2% to $6.18 apiece on the Nasdaq, for a market capitalization $552.4 million.
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