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Austria

Wolfsberg Project

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Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
Study CompletedFeasibility
Study in ProgressFeasibility Update
StageFully Permitted
Commodities
  • Lithium
  • Spodumene
  • Quartz
  • Feldspar
Mining Method
  • Longhole open stoping
  • Sub-level stoping
  • Longitudinal open stoping
Backfill type ... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotWolfsberg Project is set to become Europe’s first lithium concentrate producer. It includes an underground mining and processing facility for spodumene concentrate and a hydrometallurgical plant producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate.

The project is fully permitted and licensed. The Carinthian government confirmed that no full Environmental Impact Assessment is required, enabling faster development.

A long-term offtake with BMW Group secures battery-grade lithium hydroxide sales and includes a US$15 million prepayment. A joint venture with Obeikan Investment Group (Saudi Arabia) will build and operate a downstream hydroxide plant with exclusive rights to process spodumene from Wolfsberg.

The project holds an S-K 1300 compliant resource, with expansion potential from planned drilling in Zone 2. A Definitive Feasibility Study for both the mine and hydroxide plant is due soon, the final step before construction and production.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Critical Metals Corp. 100 % Indirect
Critical Metals Corp. Has Legal Right And Tenure Over The Wolfsberg Project Through Its Wholly Owned Subsidiary Ecm Lithium At Gmbh (ecm Lithium). Ecm Lithium Has 54 Exploration Licenses Which Are Valid Until 31 December 2029 And 20 Mining Licenses Which Are Valid Until 31 December 2025.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Pegmatite

Summary:

The spodumene bearing pegmatites occur in form of veins within a regional anticline. The pegmatite veins are intruded into amphibolite and mica schist host rocks strictly concordant to their foliation. On the northern limb of this anticline, which is known as Zone 1, the strata uniformly strikes WNW-ESE(average 120 º) and dips to the NNE at an average of 60 º.

The amphibolite hosted pegmatites (AHP) are stratigraphical hanging wall position relative to the mica schist hosted pegmatites (MHP) although they overlap. The AHP has greyish to greenish spodumene crystals aligned sub-parallel to the pegmatite contacts and average about 2 to 3 cm in length reaching a maximum of 15 cm. Spodumene crystals are more or less homogeneously distributed within a fine-grained matrix of feldspar and quartz with flakes of muscovite. The MHP lack the typical features and textures of pegmatites having undergone a penetrative metamorphic overprint almost completely recrystallising the original pegmatitic minerals. The spodumene minerals are in the form of mm sized lenticular grains embedded into very fine feldspar, quartz and muscovite matrix.

Mineralisation
The Project is located within the Koralpe-Wölz nappe system of the Upper Austroalpine unit of the Eastern Alps, a mountain range composed of pre-alpine (mainly Palaeozoic) medium- to fine-grade metasedimentary rocks. Within the Eastern Alps, a pegmatite belt covers an area of over 400 km, where most of the pegmatites do not host a lithium mineralisation. Minerex identified 15 parallel lithium bearing pegmatite veins striking west-northwest to east-southeast and dipping at approximately 60° to the north-northeast. The veins were hosted in two host rock types, amphibolite and mica schist, and the pegmatites from these host rocks are known as amphibolite hosted pegmatites (AHP) and mica schist hosted pegmatites (MHP). The MHP veins were followed along strike for 1,700 m and the AHP veins for 800 m. Although the chemistry of the AHP and MHP is similar, there are physical differences. The AHP are coarsely crystalline with visible spodumene crystals, and a lithium grade of up to 2.94% Li2O whereas the MHP have undergone a partial secondary recrystallisation, and their texture is much finer with spodumene crystals barely visible, and a slightly lower lithium grade of 2.7% Li2O. Of the multiple spodumene-bearing pegmatite veins, 15 have been individually identified, within both amphibolite and mica schist host rocks, as having economic potential based on lithium grade and vein thickness. Veins of up to 5.1 m have been encountered.

The deposit type may be considered to be a class of rare-element pegmatite, of the lithium- caesium tantalum family, of the albite-spodumene type. Although the origin of the intruded pegmatitic melt is still unclear, recent research assumes partial melting and internal differentiation of the mica schist.

Dimensions
The currently explored deposit has an extension in strike of 1,700 m. The maximum vertical extension is about 400 m (1,650 masl to 1,250 masl) along strike due to varying exploration strategies in the past. The veins are steep to medium dipping and most of them have expressions on the surface. It is expected that the deposit continues deeper than currently explored.

The width of the veins averages 1.45 m with maximum width recorded at 5.5 m. Intersection lengths in the boreholes were logged but not sampled if less than 0.1 m.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Lithium Hydroxide kt 8.8129
Spodumene Concentrate kt 69990
Quartz Fines kt 164
Quartz Lump kt 1,000
Feldspar Fines kt 587
Feldspar Lump kt 1,950
Quartz Lump & Fines kt 81
Feldspar Lump & Fines kt 176

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe
Waste tonnes, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Total tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2023 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs LiOH-H2O USD  ....  Subscribe
Total cash costs LiOH-H2O USD  ....  Subscribe
Total cash costs LiOH-H2O USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price LiOH-H2O USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2023 study / presentation.
** Net of By-Product.

Operating Costs

CurrencyAverage
UG mining costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2023 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Closure costs $M USD  ......  Subscribe
UG OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Processing OpEx $M USD 1,097
Backfill costs $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Transportation (haulage) costs $M USD 305
Total OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Gross revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
EBITDA (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 6% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 27, 2025

Workforce

Aerial view:

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