European Metals Holdings Ltd (LON:EMH) Managing Director Keith Coughlan caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss their latest drilling results, other activities within the company and the MOU with the Czech government
Q1: Now, you announced some drilling results today that you’ve described as ‘excellent’, can you tell me what’s the significance of the results and why you’re so happy about them?
A1: Well, firstly, we were drilling, as we announced when we began this programme and a few times since, we’ve been drilling an area that was a gap in the geological model, there was really no data there and there were no classified resources. It is an area that’s close to where we intend beginning mining when we go into production and so it was important for us to test this area to see if there was any significant mineralisation there and happily there was. So, we not only have proven that an area that previously had no classified resources does actually contain larger volumes of good grade, in fact some of the best grade we’ve had in all that drilling, but as I said it’s also alongside the initial mining area so the effect that that will probably have on the economics of the project could be quite serious.
Q2: So, is there anymore drilling planned for European Metals?
A2: Not immediately, we don’t need to do anymore drilling and any drilling we do as part of the PFS will be really just to bring up a small portion of the resource from indicated into measured. If that does have to be done, it won’t have to be done for some time, certainly nothing now before the end of the northern winter so we won’t be doing any drilling in the tougher winter months up there.
Q3: What other activities are going on with the company at the moment?
A3: We’ve begun a fair few of the preliminary activities leading into the PFS so we’ve been doing quite a bit of metallurgical test work, that’s been underway for some time, we’re doing some of that here in Australia with our Australian labs at Nagrom and also some in Germany, in fact metallurgical consultant is heading over there in a week or two to work closely with them on some of the work they’re doing.
Apart from that, there are numerous studies that are underway, the environmental impact study is a notable one that’s been going for a while now and is a very important part of the DFS and we’ve also been conducting a few logistics-style studies looking at optimising things for the first few years and where we can enhance the economics.
Q4: Finally, European Metals Holdings announced an MOU with the Czech government about a month ago, what was the significance of that agreement?
A4: The significance of the MOU with the Czech government was simply to outline the understanding between the two parties as to how Cinovec should be developed going forward. There’s been an election in the Czech Republic since, only 2 weeks ago now, and there has been a change in government, but I think the intentions of the MOU remain the same and that is that the government at the time was very keen to see us develop as much of the process of Cinovec and the down streaming within the Czech Republic as possible. That’s something that we have been very happy to take onboard so the idea that we would not only mine the ore, that we would build a lithium processing plant and manufacture battery-grade lithium products within the country is something that the Czech government was happy about and we’re happy to commit to that as well. So, at the moment there’s been no new government formed, that’ll occur over the next few weeks or so and then we look forward to sitting down with the new government and reiterating the main tenets of that MOU.
