Lithium Australia (LIT) has agreed terms renewing the employment contract for Managing Director, Adrian Griffin, for a further three-year term. Lithium Australia Chairman, George Bauk: “Lithium Australia’s current strategy driven by Griffin places the company in the ‘perfect lithium storm.’ Shareholders have reaped the benefit so far of LIT’s daring goal of controlling the world’s largest lithium inventory by capturing the forgotten mica-based lithium resources available throughout our outstanding and advanced suite of lithium targets in Western Australia, and also in the Europe and Africa.
“Due to an expanding and engaged market and unprecedented interest in lithium consumers such as electric vehicles and power walls, the price and demand dynamics for lithium look set to improve rapidly in the next two years. Lithium Australia’s goal is to upscale its successful pilot plant trials to date to commercial operations and sell lithium and other byproducts into this growing market as an increasing dominant market supplier. Delivery on this strategy will continue to reward our shareholders in the shortest timeframes possible.
“The Board is aiming high and is stretching the long term goal for Lithium Australia’s market cap to rise from A$15 million to $50 million. In the event that Lithium Australia reaches this long-term goal, the Company would have grown from a market capitalisation of $1.4 million in September 2014 when it commenced its lithium strategy – a potential 35 times increase since that time. The Board considers these Performance Rights to be appropriate for Griffin for such an improvement.”
LIT has exclusive technology licences to recover lithium from micas; minerals not generally used as a source of lithium chemicals. The company considers this to be a disruptive technology with the potential to displace more conventional lithium production. LIT has a nonbinding Heads of Agreement with European Metals Holdings Ltd to process lithium mineralisation at Cinovec in the Czech Republic on a 50/50 JV basis. Cinovec contains abundant lithium micas and is one of the world’s largest hard-rock lithium occurrences.
At Cinovec, LIT is conducting a scoping study on significant Li resources contained within zinnwaldite, which is a Li mica:
- Inferred Li Resource – 5.5 Mt LCE, 514.8 Mt @ 0.43% Li2O (0.1% Li cutoff)
- Additional Exploration Target – 3.4 to 5.3 Mt LCE, 350-450 Mt @ 0.39-0.47% Li2O.
The Cinovec zinnwaldite can be efficiently recovered by flotation. LIT’s study is examining the viability of extracting Li from the zinnwaldite under the terms of its licence with Strategic Metallurgy. The diagram shows the Cinovec Li leach curve.
Tin has been mined in the Cinovec district from the 14th century. Modern underground mining ceased in 1972 in the central part of the Cinovec district, where near surface flat lying quartz-cassiterite-wolframite veins were mined with a shaft access. As the high grade ore was running out, the Czech State company initiated an extensive underground exploration program southward of the Central Mine. Extensive underground drilling and tunnelling defined significant blind tin-tungsten-lithium mineralisation associated with greisenitisation and silicification. About 0.5 Mt of ore was test-mined in the 1980s and a feasibility study was completed. All operations ceased with the demise of the centralised economy in 1990.
In addition, LIT has strategic alliances with Pilbara Minerals Ltd, Focus Minerals Ltd and Tungsten Mining NL, to investigate lithium and rare metals in prospective locations of Western Australia close to well developed infrastructure. LIT has lithium exploration assets near Greenbushes and Ravensthorpe in Western Australia. LIT is also evaluating other European and African opportunities.