Core receives key government approval for Finniss

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This lease gives Core permission to mine at BP33 for a term of 25 years and is another key step in the company’s journey to becoming shovel ready at the Finniss project.

BP33 is the second mining lease awarded to Core, alongside the Grants deposit mineral lease given in 2019, which was the first ever mineral lease the Northern Territory Government had granted for a lithium project.

Core managing director Stephen Biggins said the mining lease is validation that the Northern Territory Government supports the Finniss lithium project in the global lithium sector.

“This additional mining lease approval from the Northern Territory Government is well timed as Core continues to advance the Finniss lithium project towards commencing construction as we aim to further expand resources, life of mine and production capacity in 2021,” Biggins said.

“It is a further encouragement that the Northern Territory Government understands the important role that Finniss will play in the future of the lithium sector.

“As we continue to see signs of global improvement in this industry, we are optimistic of our near-term plans for Australia’s next lithium mine.”

Core considers the Finniss project as Australia’s most advanced new lithium project listed on the ASX, due to its capital efficiency and effortless logistics chain, being located within 25 kilometres of Darwin Port and other infrastructure including power stations, gas and rail.

Last year, Core doubled its life of mine at Finniss out to seven years, with the potential to expand this further to 10 years.

It also signed its first European offtake agreement with Transamine for 50,000 tonnes per annum and a binding offtake with one of China’s biggest lithium producers, Yahua, which is in a supply agreement with electric vehicle giant Tesla.