Lithium Australia secures 100% of German-based Sadisdorf lithium project

Lithium Australia (ASX: LIT) has completed all the conditions required to secure 100% of its Sadisdorf lithium-tin-tungsten project in Germany, where recent drilling unearthed lithium-mica intersections up to 78.51m thick on the doorstep of Europe’s burgeoning electric vehicle industry.

In June this year, Lithium Australia executed an agreement to acquire the entire Sadisdorf project and the nearby Hegelshohe licence from Tin International for €2 million ($3.26 million).

The greenlight for the licence transfer from German authorities has paved the way for the licences to be officially transferred to Lithium Australia’s wholly-owned German subsidiary.

Lithium Australia will now pay Tin International €500,000 in cash and €1.5 million in Lithium Australia shares.

Thick lithium intersections at Sadisdorf

Lithium Australia recently completed three drill holes at Sadisdorf, with assays revealing lithium-mica intersections of 78.51m at 0.51% lithium, 68.56m at 0.51% lithium, and 32.19m at 0.52% lithium.

The intersections also contained numerous higher-grade intervals ranging from 0.57% lithium to 0.98% lithium.

According to Lithium Australia, the grades are higher than historical results which returned up to 0.656% lithium.

Other minerals were also encountered during drilling including tin and tungsten.

Sadisdorf has a maiden resource of 25 million tonnes at 0.45% lithium, which Lithium Australia hopes to “significantly expand” through further exploration.

SiLeach process

Back in Australia, Lithium Australia is focused on delivering results further up the value chain with its first SiLeach pilot plant trial generating “outstanding” recoveries.

The trial involved processing lepidolite concentrate recovered from mine waste and generated up to 97.5% lithium, with an average extraction of 94% lithium.

Lithium Australia developed the SiLeach process to develop battery quality lithium from mineralisation traditionally perceived as “waste” or uneconomic to exploit.

The company’s managing director Adrian Griffin told Small Caps the processing technology was commercially competitive to that of a hard rock spodumene producer.

Following the successful which generated a lithium liquor, Lithium Australia will now process the lithium liquor into lithium chemicals.

The company will then use its VSPC proprietary process to ultimately create a lithium-ion battery.

Closing the loop

Lithium Australia’s strategy is to become a vertically integrated lithium processing business using its proprietary disruptive technologies to produce battery material from non-conventional sources.

The company aims to furnish the surging lithium-ion battery sector with ethical and sustainable supply solutions.

By midday, shares in Lithium Australia had lifted 1% to $0.10.