European Energy Metals announced on Thursday that it has applied for five new exploration licenses (ELs) in Finland, significantly expanding its land holdings. The new applications, covering approximately 102 square kilometers in the Kaustinen region, target areas highly promising for lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites. This expansion will add to the company’s existing Nabba and Nabba 2 licenses, increasing its total licensed area to 157.7 square kilometers.

The newly applied-for licenses are strategically located near Sibanye-Stillwater’s Keliber project. This project includes several LCT spodumene-pegmatite deposits with published resources of around 17 million tonnes at 1% lithium oxide (Li2O). Sibanye-Stillwater is investing up to €600 million in partnership with the Finnish Minerals Group to build a comprehensive lithium supply chain, including a spodumene concentrator mill near Kaustinen, with the aim of initiating production in the latter half of 2025.

European Energy Metals’ new licenses are situated within 1 kilometer of Keliber's known lithium-rich spodumene-pegmatite deposits and the proposed spodumene concentrator plant. Currently, the company is conducting a field program on these concessions to identify potential drilling targets for later this year. This program builds on the 2023 exploration efforts, during which the company identified several lithium-bearing pegmatite occurrences at the Nabba license. Notably, the Kyrola prospect was discovered—an 850-meter-long by 110-meter-wide spodumene-bearing pegmatite boulder field where rock chip samples yielded up to 3.84% Li2O.

CEO Jeremy Poirier expressed enthusiasm about the expansion, stating, “The expansion of our exploration licenses enables us to conduct more extensive exploration and better define the subsurface extent of the widespread mineralization identified on the surface.” He added, “Our 2024 exploration program is tailored to advance these projects to a drill definition stage. The proximity of our tenements to significant known deposits, including the Keliber lithium concentrator currently under construction, underscores their prospectivity.”

European Energy Metals Corp. is a junior mining company focused on the Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum Finnish Pegmatite Project in central Finland. With European and Finnish authorities enacting laws and policies to promote environmental sustainability and energy independence, access to rare earth elements (REE), particularly lithium, has become crucial. The company’s concessions are situated within 15 kilometers of the Keliber mine and production complex, which is currently under construction and anticipated to commence production in the second half of 2025. However, the company notes that the presence of lithium mineralization at Keliber’s site does not guarantee similar mineralization within its own concessions.  The company also owns several precious metals projects outright in Northern Finland. These projects are situated within the Paleo-Proterozoic Greenstone Terrane, which features multiple greenstone belts, including the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt (CLGB). This region is renowned for its world-class gold deposits, such as the Kittila Deposit, managed by Agnico Eagle, and the Ikkari Deposit, overseen by Rupert Resources. It also hosts significant base metal deposits, including the Kevitsa deposit, owned by Boliden, and the Sakatti deposit, held by Anglo American.