Lithium Australia NL (ASX:LIT) (FRA:3MW) has been granted a 133 square kilometre exploration licence in Saxony, Germany.
The prospective exploration ground is located in a region where lithium mineralisation is often associated with tin and tungsten mineralisation.
Notable deposits featuring the minerals in the region include Cinovec, Zinnwald and Sadisdorf.
At Sadisdorf, Lithium Australia is farming into an historic tin mine with a pervasive lithium greisen halo.
Can earn up to 50% of Sadisdorf
Lithium Australia can earn up to 50% from Tin International AG of the Sadisdorf Lithium Project in Germany.
The company plans to use its 100%-owned SiLeach® process to recover lithium from Sadisdorf.
The project may have sufficient resources to sustain 10 years of lithium carbonate production at a rate of 25,000 tonnes per annum.
Central European lithium processing hub
The objective is to establish a central processing hub in Europe to support battery production for the rapidly expanding electric vehicle industry.
Sadisdorf already has the potential to supply lithium to the German auto industry and the company is also looking to areas never before explored systematically.
In this regard, central Europe offers many opportunities.
Drilling underway at Sadisdorf
Drilling at Sadisdorf has now resumed, with initial results expected in February of this year.
The drilling program is scheduled for completion at the end of March, with final results expected in May 2018.
Drilling follows a maiden resource estimate
Adrian Griffin, managing director, said: “The drill program at Sadisdorf – which follows its maiden mineral resource estimate of 25 million tonnes at 0.45% lithium oxide – aims to confirm historical data, as well as provide additional data to expand the known resource.
“We are looking forward to receiving the first results in support of that historical data and to confirm our interpretation of mineralisation and geology at that project.
“We are also pleased to announce the acquisition of another land package in Saxony that has, since 2015, been known to host lithium minerals.
“We feel that this relatively recent identification, and the acquisition itself, further strengthen Lithium Australia's position in central Europe and support its aspiration to become a prime supplier to Europe's burgeoning battery industry.”