Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX:VUL) has announced the maiden mineral resource estimate for its Vulcan Lithium Brine Project in Germany.
The company correctly points out in the announcement that the resource estimate, which stands at 13.2mln tonnes (mt) lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), is now the largest in Europe on a contained LCE basis.
Its larger than all the other European lithium projects, including European Metals Cinovec Project (7.2mt LCE); Rio Tintos Jadar Project (6.3mt LCE); Infinity Lithium Corps San Jose Project (1.7mt LCE); Savannah Resources Mina do Barroso Project (0.7mt LCE); Keliber Oys Keliber Project (0.4mt LCE); European Lithiums Wolfsberg Project (0.3mt LCE); Lithium Australias Sadisdorf Project (0.3mt LCE); and Exore Resources Sepeda Project (0.3mt LCE).
Compared to other projects globally, its the fourth largest lithium brine project, and the fifth largest lithium project of any deposit type. It is clearly a very large lithium deposit, but there is an elephant in the room with this announcement. The announcement, gives us the context in regards to the tonnage, but it fails to give the same context for grade.
The grade for the project is 0.1% LCE, which makes it the one of the five lowest-grade lithium brine projects in the world (Figure 1). The other lithium projects in Europe are either igneous or sedimentary deposits so they are significantly higher-grade than the Vulcan Project by an order of magnitude (Figure 2), though this does not necessarily mean they will be “better projects”.
Figure 1: The grade curve for Lithium Brine Projects
Source: Metals and Mining Research Corporation
Figure 2: The grade curve for European Lithium Projects
Source: Metals and Mining Research Corporation
The Vulcan Project is globally unique, as it will be a zero-carbon lithium producer, as it will be both sourced from and poRead More – Source
