Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
Critical Metals Corp. (Nasdaq: CRML) said on Thursday it expects to deliver a new definitive feasibility study (DFS) for its flagship Wolfsberg lithium project in the first quarter of 2025.
Located in 270 km southwest of Vienna, Austria, Wolfsberg represents Europe’s first fully permitted spodumene mine, and potentially its first lithium concentrate producer, with first production targeted for 2026/27.
The current DFS 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 that advancing exploration at Zone 2 could potentially double this resource. Drilling by past owners in this area returned pegmatite intersections of up to 7 metres with grades as high as 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,” CEO Tony Sage said in a news 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 $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, Critical Metals 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 region.
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, which it bought a large stake in earlier this year.
Shares in Critical Metals were down 7.7% by 1:45 p.m. EDT, trading at $5.79 apiece in New York for a market capitalization of $525.1 million.
