JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Australia’s Paynes Find Gold said on Friday that it would ask shareholders to approve a capital raising for between A$6-million and A$9-million for the acquisition of a lithium project in Austria.

ASX-listed Paynes reported that it had completed a due diligence on the acquisition of European Lithium – the owner of the Wolfsberg project, which contained 55 000 t of lithium.

The project has a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant inferred resource of 3.7-million tonnes, which Paynes planned to upgrade. The current owner of the Wolfsberg project had spent €11.53-million on acquisitions and exploration and had completed 17 000 m of drilling and 1 400 m of declines, drives and crosscuts.

Paynes stated that previous work allowed the company to examine routes to fast-track development of the project.  The company planned to start production within 15 to 20 months from the completion of the acquisition.

The project had a granted mining lease covering 11 mining areas and was located about 40 km from the Samsung battery plant in Gratz.

Paynes pointed out that Wolfsberg’s central European location would allow the company to help meet European Union (EU) demand. The EU was a major lithium importer, consuming 24% of global output – second only to China.

“The project provides a significant transport cost advantage over lithium from South America and Australia,” the company reported.

Earlier this week, at least two other Australia-based lithium juniors announced that they would be expanding to Europe. Dakota Minerals signed a binding agreement to acquire rights to a significant tenement package in Portugal – Europe’s largest lithium producing country – while Capital Mining signed a binding agreement to acquire prospecting licence applications in Ireland.

Meanwhile, ASX-listed Global Geoscience on Friday announced that it had secured an option to acquire a lithium-boron project, in Nevada, in the US. The option agreement entitled the company to a one-month exclusivity period to conduct a due diligence on the Rhyolite Ridge project and a 12-month period in which it could exercise the option.

“With over 100 existing drill holes at two known lithium-boron deposits, the project provides the company with direct exposure to a significantly advanced exploration opportunity and presents the opportunity to start a prefeasibility study in the near term,” said Global MD Bernard Rowe.

The Rhyolite Ridge project is located 60 km south-west of Tonopah and 30 km west of Albemarle's lithium brine operation at Clayton Valley – the only operating lithium mine in the US.