East Coast Minerals Reaches Milestone in Lithium Project

East Coast Minerals (ECM) is a step closer to completing the acquisition of the Austrian Lithium Project, after finalizing the purchase of the project from Kärntner Montanindustrie GmbH (KMI).

The milestone was achieved with the transfer of the exploration and mining licenses by the Austrian mining authority “Montanbehörde”. The acquisition is now only subject to approval by East Coast shareholders. The payment of an initial installment of € 3.7m by ECM’s major shareholder, Exchange Minerals Group, has now been released to KMI.

The contract for the transaction was signed in May already. The purchase price for the lithium mine has been reported to be € 9.25m. Geologists believe that the Carinthian mine is the largest underground deposit of lithium in Europe.

KMI had acquired the mine in 1991 for one Schilling from ÖIAG, the Austrian Republic’s investment and privatization agency. Before, the state had analyzed the deposit so that it is considered to be well explored. The mine has been closed until today, but maintained by KMI.

ECM is planning the exploitation and potentially also the on-site processing of lithium. Reserves are estimated to amount to 18 million tons with 1.6% lithium oxide content.