Wedoany.com Report-Dec 04, The Carinthia state government in Austria has approved an exemption for Critical Metals' Wolfsberg lithium project, allowing it to bypass a full environmental impact assessment.
This decision, announced after an in-depth review, is seen as crucial for the establishment of a European battery supply chain supporting electric vehicles. The review covered various aspects of the project, including underground mining, surface facilities, energy supply, and environmental interactions, and was conducted by a team of multidisciplinary experts. The conclusion was that the project's surface impact is limited and the planning is thorough. This move is expected to have a positive impact on the project's financing prospects, as the proposed underground mining operations require less than 10 hectares of surface space, which complies with legal requirements for exemption from an environmental impact assessment.
In July, Critical Metals also established a joint venture with Obeikan Group to build a lithium hydroxide processing plant in Saudi Arabia, aimed at processing the spodumene concentrate from the Wolfsberg lithium project.