European Energy Metals announced it has submitted applications for two Exploration Licenses (“EL’s”) covering an area of 4,550 hectares within the 11,690 hectare (ha) Nabba Reservation. The Nabba EL (2,812 ha) and Nabba 2 EL (1,738 ha) are located on the northern half of the Nabba Reservation and adjacent to the Keliber Projects of Sibanye-Stillwater. Under an Exploration License or EL, the Company would be permitted to undertake more advanced exploration such as detailed base-of-till (BoT) sampling, trenching and diamond drilling.
An estimated €600 million investment by Keliber’s parent company Sibanye-Stillwater Limited in partnership with the Finnish Minerals Group (www.mineralsgroup.fi) is underway and will see the development of open-pit and underground mining from several deposits, construction of a central Spodumene Concentrator Plant and a Lithium Hydroxide Chemical Plant at tidewater in Kokkola. When completed, this complex will comprise a complete hard-rock spodumene pegmatite lithium supply chain (Source: Sibanye-Stillwater website).
The Nabba ELs lie <8 km west of Keliber’s Spodumene Concentrator Plant and several previously known Li-spodumene pegmatite prospects/deposits occur within 1 km of the Nabba licences, including the Emmes Deposit which hosts NNW-SSE trending Li-bearing, spodumene pegmatites, and a resource of 1.08 Mt grading 1.22% Li2O (Geological Survey of Finland). The Nabba EL’s also cover historical Base of Till (“BoT”) lithium anomalies which are interpreted by the Company to be relatively close to source (see Company News Release May 30, 2023) .
“The advancement of our reservations to exploration licenses represents a significant milestone for the company as our understanding of the potential of lithium-bearing mineralization on our projects evolves,” commented Jeremy Poirier, CEO of European Energy Metals. “With our Phase 1 exploration program nearing conclusion, we are eagerly awaiting the results from the field and assays at the lab to finalize our 2024 exploration program.”
Source: European Energy Metals