European Metals Holdings said a new site has been chosen for the lithium processing plant at its Cinovec project in the Czech Republic.
After evaluation and preliminary agreement between project company Geomet and the relevant municipal and regional governments, an industrial site at Prunéřov will be used rather than the original choice of Dukla.
Prunéřov is the site of the former Prunéřov 1 Power Station, which was decommissioned in 2020, and the Prunéřov 2 Power Station.
The site, owned and operated by CEZ, EMH's project-level partner, is considerably larger than the Dukla site and should enable the processing plant to be laid out more effectively, said the statement.
Ore from the underground mining operation at Cinovec will be carried by conveyor to Dukla and loaded onto trains for transport to Prunéřov (approximately 59 km) using existing rail facilities.
EMH added that during work on the definitive feasibility study (DFS) it became apparent that Dukla possessed limited capacity and had limited support from the surrounding municipalities.
The Prunéřov industrial site is located alongside the 750MW Prunéřov 2 coal-fired power plant and further away from inhabited areas.
Keith Coughlan, EMH’s executive chairman, added: "While providing a good outcome for the surrounding communities, the decision to move the lithium processing plant from the Dukla to the Prunéřov site is expected to have a positive outcome on the capex and opex per tonne of the project due to the possibility of quicker permitting process and more effective layout of the processing plant.
"We will now be instructing DRA Global and the DFS team to amend the DFS to take this into account before we can provide DFS numbers.
We understand that a deferral to a DFS is usually considered a negative matter but, in this case, we consider it to be for a positive result, particularly as the Prunéřov site is currently home to the Prunéřov Power Plant.
Ladislav Štěpánek, joint venture Geomet's chairman, stated: "Prunéřov is a suitable place for our project.
"It is an industrial location at a greater distance from populated areas where a lignite power plant is already operating.
"Building a processing plant in Prunéřov fulfils our philosophy of coal transformation, as it would provide enough jobs for the employees of the gradually closing coal mines and power plants located in the vicinity.
"Only an ore loading facility will be built at the original site at Dukla, from where we will transport the ore by rail to Prunéřov. I am glad that we have found an agreement with the municipalities and the region and can continue with the project at Prunéřov."