RE: How Australia’s lithium miners hope to play in wary Europe’s backyard14 Feb 2022 18:09
Two of the Perth-based junior minors, European Lithium and European Metals, reckon the clincher for their projects is that, unlike Rio’s greenfield site, they plan to operate on defunct mines.
European Metals’ Cinovec project in the Czech Republic is built on a 1940s tin and tungsten mine that closed down as the country emerged from the communist period in 1993, and executive chairman Keith Coughlan says the nearby town of Dubi has mining in its blood.
“There are 600 years of history to it. Dubi has at various stages in its history relied on that mine. Everyone has a relative who worked in it – an uncle or a father or brother, or a grandfather or great-uncle,” he says.
The locals and the national government are on board, and Coughlan says the focus now is on the regional tier.
“Where we’re doing the most work is in making sure regional government is happy and comfortable,” he says. This has been helped by the state-owned electricity utility – a partner in Coughlan’s project – deciding to put a battery factory in the vicinity.