Critical Metals receives notice that EIA not required for Wolfsberg project

Critical Metals (CRML) announced that after an intensive examination, the Company has received a notice from the Carinthian state government that an Environmental Impact Assessment is not required for the Wolfsberg Lithium Project, which is strategically located in Austria. This is an important step on the way to realizing the project and establishing a European battery supply chain for electromobility. Now, as it relates to underground mining where the surface area required by the above-ground facilities is less than 10 hectares, as is envisaged for lithium mining on the Koralpe, no EIA is required by law. The assessment by the EIA authority covered the entire project on the Koralpe, i.e. the planned underground mining, the surface mining facility for the production of a spodumene concentrate, the energy supply lines and necessary clearance, and the refilling of the empty mining chambers with the surplus mining material, as well as an examination of interactions with other projects. The audit was carried out by official experts from the departments of forestry, nature conservation, geology, hydrogeology, waste management, chemistry, process engineering, water ecology and water management as well as torrent and avalanche control. On the basis of this comprehensive case-by-case examination, in which all relevant facts of the EIA Act were taken into account, the EIA authority came to the conclusion that an EIA was not necessary.