Regulatory-arkiv - Page 9 of 10 - Eurobattery Minerals

This information is the sort of information that the company is obliged to disclose under the EU market abuse regulation. The information was submitted by the above contact person for publication on 21 October 2020 at 08:00 CEST.

Eurobattery Minerals in brief

Eurobattery Minerals is a mining and prospecting company focused on battery minerals such as nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements. Business activities and operations are conducted exclusively in Europe with a focus on Finland, Spain and Sweden. The Company has two mining licences and eight exploration licences. The headquarters are located in Stockholm.

Augment Partners AB, e-mail: info@augment.se, phone: +46 8 505 651 72, is the company’s Mentor.

Important information

Publication or distribution of this press release may in some jurisdictions be subject to statutory and legal restrictions and persons in those jurisdictions where this press release has been published or distributed should inform themselves about and observe such restrictions. The information in this press release does not constitute an offer to acquire, subscribe or otherwise trade in shares or other securities in Eurobattery Minerals.

This press release does not constitute an offer to acquire securities in the United States. The securities mentioned herein may not be sold in the United States without registration in accordance with The Securities Act of 1933 or without the application of an exception to such registration. The information in this press release may not be released, published, reproduced or distributed in or to the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, South Africa, or any other country or jurisdiction where such action is not permitted or such action is subject to legal restrictions or would require further registration or other measures than required by Swedish law. Measures contrary to this instruction may constitute a breach of applicable securities laws.

Eurobattery Minerals AB (Nordic Growth Market: “BAT”; “the Company”) a growth company in the mining and exploration industry with the vision to help Europe become self-sufficient in ethical battery minerals, today announces that FinnCobalt Oyj (formerly Vulcan Hautalampi Oy) has informed the Company about its expansion in eastern Finland with a new granted reservation permit for exploration over the highly prospective Hietajärvi Project (“the Project”). The Project covers over 289km2 of ground highly prospective for cobalt, copper, nickel and zinc deposits. Eurobattery Minerals has the option to acquire 100% of FinnCobalt Oyj in a staged acquisition.

Key points:

FinnCobalt expands its footprint in eastern Finland being granted a reservation permit for exploration over the highly prospective Hietajärvi Project.
Located ~30km south of FinnCobalt Hautalampi Project, Hietajärvi contains similar prospective rocks known to contain Co-Cu-Ni-Zn deposits.
Historical mineral resources defined at the project total 0.74Mt @ 0.11% Co, 0.56% Cu, 0.6% Zn and 0.18% Ni (1.74% CuEq%).

“With the electric revolution, the need for batteries and battery minerals is growing fast. To meet the demands, Europe needs to open more mines for battery minerals. With this in mind, exploring new mineral projects is a fundamental part of our business. Therefore, it is encouraging to see that FinnCobalt is further expanding its footprint in Finland”, said Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals.

The Hietajärvi cobalt, copper, nickel and zinc deposit is ideally located to infrastructure and FinnCobalt’s current base of operations being approximately 30 km south of the Hautalampi Project (Fig. 1). Importantly, the prospective Outokumpu rock formations occur in the reservation permit area. The same formation hosts the Hautalampi Ni-Co-Cu deposit and other major mineral prospects and deposits. A reservation gives priority right to FinnCobalt to apply for an exploration permit over the area.

The Hietajärvi reservation contains two exciting prospects that the Company will initially focus on:

Hietajärvi – contains a defined Co-Cu-Zn-Ni deposit. The mineralisation is documented to be an Outokumpu-type mixed hydrothermal system with massive and disseminated sulphides. Outokumpu Oyj investigated the region between 1955 and 1994 completing multiple exploration campaigns and pilot plant tests. Outokumpu Oyj ultimately defined a mineralised body consisting of two, nearly E-W trending sulphide lodes dipping 40-50°S. The lodes are 200 meters (E-lens) and 100 meters (W-lens) in length have thicknesses varying between 3 meters and 20 meters. A non-compliant historical resource estimate of 0.341Mt @ 0.15% Co, 0.7% Cu, 1.2% Zn and 0.18% Ni (2.33% CuEq) containing 511.5t Co, 4126t Zn, 2421t Cu and 614t Ni has been defined at Hietajärvi. The prospect has seen little advanced exploration work completed at the prospect subsequent to Outokumpu Oyj.
Kettukumpu – also contains a defined Cu-Co-Ni-Zn deposit documented to be a Outokumpu-type mixed hydrothermal system. The prospect was explored by Malmikaivos Oy from 1975 – 1983, completing multiple exploration campaigns. In 2006, GTK in its work on the deposit published a non-compliant mineral resource estimate of 0.4Mt @ 0.44% Cu, 0.18% Ni and 0.07% Co (1.24% CuEq). Like Hietajärvi, the prospect has seen no recent exploration activity.

FinnCobalt has indicated work on the Hietajärvi project will initially be essentially restricted to desktop studies as this is a condition of the reservation permit. A plan on the preparation of the exploration permit application will be presented following a full project review.

Figure 1. Hietajärvi reservation permit area (green area) in relation to Hautalampi Project (red).

For further information, please contact:

Roberto García Martínez, CEO

About Eurobattery Minerals

Augment Partners AB, e-mail: info@augment.se, phone: +46 8 505 651 72, is the company’s Mentor

Eurobattery Minerals AB (Nordic Growth Market: “BAT”; “the Company”) a growth company in the mining and exploration industry with the vision to help Europe become self-sufficient in ethical battery minerals, today announces that FinnCobalt Oyj (formerly Vulcan Hautalampi Oy) has informed the Company the completion of Phase 1 drilling at the Hautalampi Ni-Co-Cu Project (“Hautalampi”; “the Project”), eastern Finland. The drilling campaign has confirmed resource expansion potential between 800 meters and 1,400 meters along strike from historical mineral resource estimate with consistent Ni-Co-Cu mineralisation being intersected. Eurobattery Minerals has the option to acquire 100% of FinnCobalt Oyj in a staged acquisition.

Key points:

Phase 1 drilling completed at Hautalampi Project in central Finland. In total 29 drill holes completed for a total of 3,769 meters. More than 1,000 samples submitted for geochemical assaying at ALS Geochemistry in Outokumpu with final assay results anticipated in 6-8 weeks.
Drilling targeted resource expansion in the prospective Blue Sky zone located along trend from historical mineral resource.
Drilling has confirmed resource expansion potential between 800 meters and 1,400 meters along strike from historical mineral resource estimate with consistent Ni-Co-Cu mineralisation being intersected. Assay highlights include:
- 2.0m @ 0.45% Co, 0.63% Ni, 0.29% Cu (1.85% NiEq)[1] from 51m (HA20-018)
  - including 0.5m @ 1.59% Co, 1.40% Ni and 0.26% Cu (5.32% NiEq) from 52.5m
- 4.5m @ 0.31% Ni, 0.01% Co (0.35% NiEq) from 75.5m (HA20-017), and
- 4.0m @ 0.26% Ni, 0.02% Co (0.33% NiEq) from 138m (HA20-017)
- 1.0m @ 0.37% Ni, 0.19% Co and 0.29% Cu (0.96% NiEq) from 59m (HA20-016), and
- 6.3m @ 0.25% Ni, 0.05% Co, 0.1% Cu (0.41% NiEq) from 71m (HA20-016)
- 2.4m @ 0.47% Ni and 0.03% Co (0.55% NiEq) from 74m (HA20-005)
- 4.75m @ 0.30% Ni and 0.03% Co (0.33% NiEq) from 84.25m (HA20-001)

“We are incredibly impressed with the progress of the Project so far with drilling being completed well ahead of schedule and are encouraged with what FinnCobalt has observed in the drilling and the initial assay results confirm our expectations. The high-grade intersection of 1.59% cobalt and 1.40% nickel is particularly pleasing and confirms the potential of the Project. We look forward to receiving the remaining assay results in the coming weeks”, said Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals.

FinnCobalt has informed the Company that Phase 1 drilling has been completed at Hautalampi Project. All drill holes were completed within the valid Hautalampi mining concession. The Phase 1 drilling programme is the first completed since the Company announced the option to acquire the Project in May 2020[1]. Drilling targeted resource extensions along strike from the historic NI43-101 mineral resource estimate of 3.15Mt @ 0.43% Ni, 0.35% Cu, 0.12% Co (Fig. 1). A total of 29 drill holes were completed for 3,769m (Fig. 1).

More than 1,000 samples have so far been submitted for geochemical assaying at ALS Geochemistry in Outokumpu. Drilling has confirmed the presence of Ni-Co-Cu sulphides and resource expansion potential between 800m and 1,400m along strike from the previously defined historical mineral resource. A consistent zone of mineralisation containing Ni-Co-Cu sulphides have being intersected including high-grade Co-Ni mineralisation (Fig. 2).

Assay highlights include:

Hole_ID		From (m)	To (m)	Int. (m)	Ni (%)	Co (%)	Cu (%)	NiEq (%)
HA20-018		51.00	53.00	2.00	0.63	0.45	0.29	1.85
	incl.	52.20	52.70	0.50	1.40	1.59	0.26	5.32
		89.40	91.00	1.60	0.28	0.08	0.17	0.55
HA20-017		62.50	64.00	1.50	0.36	0.02	0.00	0.40
		75.50	80.00	4.50	0.31	0.01	0.01	0.35
	incl.	75.50	77.00	1.50	0.39	0.02	0.01	0.44
		91.00	92.00	1.00	0.30	0.03	0.03	0.39
		138.00	142.00	4.00	0.26	0.02	0.02	0.33
	incl.	138.00	139.00	1.00	0.37	0.05	0.08	0.52
		149.00	150.00	1.00	0.25	0.02	0.25	0.41
HA20-016		59.00	60.00	1.00	0.37	0.19	0.29	0.96
		71.00	77.30	6.30	0.25	0.05	0.10	0.41
	incl.	75.00	76.00	1.00	0.29	0.05	0.09	0.44
HA20-005		74.00	76.40	2.40	0.47	0.03	0.01	0.55
	incl.	75.70	76.40	0.70	0.88	0.08	0.04	1.08
HA20-001		84.25	89.00	4.75	0.30	0.01	0.00	0.33
	incl.	88.00	89.00	1.00	0.65	0.03	0.00	0.73

Eurobattery Minerals is highly encouraged by the initial assay results which confirm the potential for economic grades of Ni-Co-Cu mineralisation being found outside the historic mineral resource area. The high-grade cobalt and nickel intersection is of particular interest for the addition of high-value resources.FinnCobalt have informed the Company that following geological logging and core processing, all remaining assays will be received over the next 6-8 weeks. Following receipt of the final assays, FinnCobalt and the Company will assess all drilling results and plan the next stage of resource expansion drilling and prefeasibility study.

Figure 1. Drill hole collar plan for Hautalampi Project. Drill holes recently completed highlighted by red dots.

Figure 2. Drill hole HA20-018 showing massive sulphide zone from 51.4-52.4m. Interval assayed 2m @ 0.45% Co, 0.63% Ni, 0.29% Cu (1.85% NiEq) from 51m, including 0.5m @ 1.59% Co, 1.4% Ni, 0.26% Cu (5.32% NiEq) from 52.2m.

For further information, please contact:

Roberto García Martínez, CEO

roberto@eurobatteryminerals.com

About Eurobattery Minerals

Augment Partners AB, e-mail: info@augment.se, phone: +46 8 505 651 72, is the company’s Mentor.

[1] See press release 11th May 2020 “Eurobattery Minerals signs investment agreement with option to acquire the Hautalampi nickel-cobalt-copper mine.

Eurobattery Minerals becomes a member alongside global industry leaders in Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance
The membership is one of several important steps in the company’s effort to provide ethical and traceable battery minerals for the fast growing electric vehicle industry

Eurobattery Minerals AB (Nordic Growth Market: “BAT”), a growth company in the mining and exploration industry with the vision to help Europe become self-sufficient in ethical battery minerals, has joined the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA). As a member, Eurobattery Minerals will participate in and support credible independent third-party verification and certification against a comprehensive best-practice standard that addresses the range of environmental and social issues related to industrial-scale mines.

“At Eurobattery Minerals we are determined to not only provide the electric vehicle industry with critical battery minerals, we are also committed to do it in an ethical way and with full focus on traceability. Therefore, joining IRMA is an important milestone. The membership will both provide us with learnings from other industry leaders as well as give us the opportunity to share our knowledge and experiences to promote a more responsible mining industry,” said Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals.

Eurobattery Minerals joins the multi-stakeholder membership in IRMA that includes private sector companies alongside labor unions, civil society organisations and mining affected communities. Other well-known members include leading global mining company Arcelor Mittal, automaker BMW Group, tech company Microsoft as well as Human Rights Watch.

”We are looking forward to working with Eurobattery Minerals in the coming years. The membership is the first step for companies to become involved in IRMA’s assurance programs and to support the IRMA vision of a world where the mining industry respects the human rights and aspirations of affected communities, provides safe, healthy and supportive workplaces, minimizes harm to the environment, and leaves positive legacies.” said Aimee Boulanger, Executive Director at IRMA.

About IRMA

The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) is the answer to a global demand for more socially and environmentally responsible mining. IRMA offers true independent third-party verification and certification against a comprehensive standard for all mined materials that provides ‘one-stop coverage’ of the full range of issues related to the impacts of industrial-scale mines. For more information, please visit https://responsiblemining.net.

For further information, please contact:

Roberto García Martínez, CEO

https://eurobatteryminerals.com//en/

About Eurobattery Minerals

Eurobattery Minerals is a mining and prospecting company focused on battery minerals such as nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements. Business activities and operations are conducted exclusively in Europe with a focus on Finland, Spain and northern Sweden. The company has two mining licenses and eight exploration licenses. The headquarters is located in Stockholm.

Augment Partners AB, e-mail: info@augment.se, phone: +46 8 505 651 72, is the company’s Mentor.

During June-July 2020, Eurobattery Minerals AB (publ) (NGM Nordic SME: “BAT”; “the Company”) carried out a rights issue of units, consisting of shares and warrants of series 2020:1. The exercise period for these warrants begins today and continues until 16 October, 2020. Due to the exercise period of the warrants, the Company invites to digital investor meetings.

Investor meetings

The digital investor meetings with the Company’s CEO are held on the following occasions (note that the investor meetings are held in English):

Thursday, 08 October, 2020 at 17.30 CEST
Monday, 12 October, 2020 at 17.30 CEST

Registration for the investor meetings above is sent to info@augment.se.

For further information, please contact:

Roberto García Martínez, CEO

Eurobattery Minerals in brief

Eurobattery Minerals is a mining and prospecting company focused on battery minerals such as nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements. Business activities and operations are conducted exclusively in Europe with a focus on Finland, Spain and northern Sweden. The company has two mining licenses and eight exploration licenses. The headquarters is located in Stockholm.

Augment Partners AB, tel. +46 8 505 651 72, email: info@augment.se is Eurobattery Minerals’ Mentor.

Important information

During June-July 2020, Eurobattery Minerals AB (publ) (NGM Nordic SME: “BAT”; “the Company”) carried out a rights issue of units, consisting of shares and warrants of series 2020:1 (the “Warrants”). Those who subscribed for one (1) unit in the rights issue during the period June 29 to July 14 received one (1) Warrant per subscribed unit. Each Warrant gives the right to subscribe for one (1) new share in Eurobattery Minerals AB. The subscription price for subscribing for one (1) new share through the exercise of one (1) Warrant is SEK 12.00. The exercise period for the Warrants begins on Monday 5 October and continues until 16 October 2020. The issue proceeds will be used for further feasibility studies for the Corcel and Hautalampi projects, but also to explore the possibilities for new interesting acquisitions of assets in Europe.

Terms for the Warrants in brief:

Holders of Warrants have the right to subscribe for one (1) new share for each owned (1) Warrant for a subscription price of SEK 12.00 per share.
The number of outstanding Warrants is 1,969,071, which upon full subscription in the issue corresponds to 1,969,071 new shares in the Company.
Upon full exercise of the Warrants, the Company will receive approximately SEK 23.6 million, before issue costs of approximately SEK 1.2 million.
The subscription period begins on Monday, 5 October, 2020.
The last day of trading in Warrants is Wednesday, 14 October, 2020.
The subscription period ends on Friday, 16 October, 2020.
The outcome is expected to be published during week 43.

Other information

For holders that have their Warrants nominee-registered, subscription and payment by using Warrants must be made in accordance with instructions from the nominee. Please contact your nominee for further information.

For holders that have their Warrants directly registered, i.e. on a VP-account, subscription must be made by simultaneous cash payment according to instructions on the subscription form. The subscription form will be available on the Company’s and Aqurat Fondkommission AB’s websites (www.eurobatteryminerals.com and www.aqurat.se) and Augment Partner AB’s offer site (offers.augment.se/).

For complete terms for the Warrants, please see terms that are available to download on the Company’s website (see above).

Advisers

Augment Partners AB acted as financial adviser and Bird & Bird Advokat KB acted as legal adviser to the Company in the transaction.

For further information, please contact:

Roberto García Martínez, CEO

Eurobattery Minerals in brief

Eurobattery Minerals is a mining and prospecting company focused on battery minerals such as nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements. Business activities and operations are conducted exclusively in Europe with a focus on Spain and northern Sweden. The company has one mining license and eight exploration licenses. The headquarters is located in Stockholm.

Augment Partners AB, tel. +46 8 505 651 72, email: info@augment.se is Eurobattery Minerals’ Mentor.

Important information

ERMA was announced by the European Commission in early September this year as part of the launch of the new action plan on critical raw materials. The purpose of ERMA is to “securing access to strategic metals and minerals, advanced materials as well as industrial processing know-how – with sustainability at its centre. Above all, ERMA will contribute to achieving the revival, autonomy and resilience of Europe’s integrated industrial ecosystems as outlined in the new Industrial Strategy and Recovery Plan.”

”To provide critical battery minerals to the fast growing European electric vehicle industry is an important step towards a more sustainable world. As a foundation in the battery value chain, Eurobattery Minerals fully support ERMA,” said Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals.

Today at 13.30 CET the European Commission streaming service will live stream the launch of ERMA via this link https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/erma-launch-european-raw-materials-alliance.

You can also access more information about ERMA via www.erma.eu.

For further information, please contact:

Roberto García Martínez, CEO

About Eurobattery Minerals

Eurobattery Minerals is a mining and prospecting company focused on battery minerals such as nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements. Business activities and operations are conducted exclusively in Europe with a focus on Finland, Spain and Sweden. The company has one mining licence and eight exploration licences. The headquarters are located in Stockholm.

Augment Partners AB, e-mail: info@augment.se, phone: +46 8 505 651 72, is the company’s Mentor.

Eurobattery Minerals AB (Nordic Growth Market: “BAT”; “the Company”) a growth company in the mining and exploration industry with the vision to help Europe become self-sufficient in ethical battery minerals, today announces mineral test results conducted by SGS in Canada on the nickel, cobalt, copper Castriz prospect in Galicia, northwest Spain. In the larger Corcel project, Castriz is one of three primary prospects together with Monte Mayor and Monte Castello.

Key points:

Mineral identification and characterisation studies completed on mineralised samples from Castriz Ni-Cu-Co prospect at the Corcel project.
The results of the analysis conducted by SGS Lakefield in Canada confirms the economical grade nickel sulphide findings in the Corcel project and further confirms the broader prospectively of the Castriz project area.

Seven samples from four diamond drill holes completed in 2019 were submitted to SGS Lakefield (Canada) for mineral identification and characterisation using QEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Materials by Scanning Electron Microscopy), chemical analysis and EPMA (electron microprobe analysis). The majority of samples were selected from the main mineralised nickel sulphide intervals previously confirmed by geochemical assaying (Fig. 1)[1][2]. The objective of the study was to determine the mineral abundances and high-level analysis of liberation characteristics of sulphide and gangue (waste) minerals to aid with future mineral testing programmes.“We are encouraged by the mineral test results which confirm high-value nickel sulphide minerals as dominating asset in the Castriz deposit. Our attention will now turn to identifying ways to maximise the value of our discovery by identifying potential massive sulphide zones and assessing the optimal mineral processing option for recovering the sulphides. The Corcel Project holds an important position in our project pipeline and we look forward to unlocking further value from this project in the future,” said Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals.

Figure 1. Plan view of the Castriz prospect showing highest priority areas for further investigation (blue boxes). Drill hole intersections show nickel-in-sulphide assay results.

The Project

Samples submitted for analysis were sourced from mineralised intervals from the “Northern” and “Western” anomalies (Figs. 1). The mineral studies determined the predominant Ni-sulphide mineral to be pentlandite ([Fe,Ni]9S8) with very minor millerite (NiS) and violarite (Fe2+Ni3+2S4). Silicate minerals, iron oxides and chromite contain relatively low nickel concentrations. The main silicates minerals include serpentine, pyroxenes, amphibole and chlorite. The Company is pleased that nickel concentrations in silicate minerals is low as this variety if nickel is refractory and physically non-recoverable. Furthermore, BAT is encouraged that the main Ni-bearing sulphide mineral is pentlandite as it is amenable to the conventional mineral recovery process of froth flotation. Initial nickel and copper mineral characteristics indicate that liberation will likely improve with decreasing grind size. Additional experimental studies are required to further understand mineral recovery parameters.

Next steps

The Company is encouraged by the latest evidence on the presence of nickel sulphides at Castriz which further confirms the broader prospectivity of the project area. BAT is assessing the latest mineral analysis results in relation to potential economic implications and development scenarios. Both bulk tonnage (low grade, large tonnage) and selective mining (high grade, smaller tonnage) strategies are being evaluated.

The Company is currently engaging with geophysical consultants and contractors to assess alternative geophysical methods, including electromagnetic (EM) surveys, that will preferentially image denser accumulations of sulphide minerals. Such metal accumulations are likely to have compelling financial metrics and be amenable to lower tonnage, selective mining methods.

All future capital intensive work programmes proposed at Corcel are being assessed in the context of the Company’s larger project portfolio. The Company remains focused on advancing its near-term production projects.

For further information, please contact:

Roberto García Martínez, CEO

About Eurobattery Minerals

Eurobattery Minerals is a mining and prospecting company focused on battery minerals such as nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements. Business activities and operations are conducted exclusively in Europe with a focus on Finland, Spain and Sweden. The Company has one mining licence and eight exploration licences. The headquarters are located in Stockholm.

Augment Partners AB, e-mail: info@augment.se, phone: +46 8 505 651 72, is the company’s Mentor.

[1]See BAT press release 4th May 2020 “New test results from Corcel Project confirm high proportion of nickel sulphide”.

[2]See BAT press release 22nd June 2020 “Final assays confirm high nickel sulphides discovery at Corcel Project”.

Eurobattery Minerals AB (Nordic Growth Market: “BAT”; “the Company”) a growth company in the mining and exploration industry with the vision to help Europe become self-sufficient in ethical battery minerals, today announces that Vulcan Hautalampi Oy (“VHOy”) has commenced the Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) procedure for its 100% owned Hautalampi nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu) project (“Hautalampi”; “the Project”) in Outokumpu, eastern Finland. Eurobattery Minerals has the option to acquire 100% of VHOy in a staged acquisition.

Key points:

Hautalampi Ni-Co-Cu EIA procedure commenced for combined mining operations and processing plant to produce EV battery chemicals.
Environmental permit for underground mining and off-site toll treatment of ore still valid.
Expert Finnish environmental consulting and planning company Envineer Oy commissioned to deliver the EIA on behalf of VHOy. Envineer has been involved in most mining related EIAs and permit applications in the region.
EIA procedure consists of two parts: the EIA programme and EIA report.
The EIA programme will be prepared for the mining operations, processing plant and battery chemicals plant. It will include the relevant production sub-options and describes the current state of the environment related to the project, how the environmental impacts will be assessed and a plan on how the effects will be investigated.
As a part of the EIA procedure, a preliminary consultation meeting has been conducted between the key authorities and VHOy. Involving stakeholders in the assessment work is also an essential part of the EIA procedure. To address this, VHOy will convene an EIA-procedure monitoring group.
The EIA report describes the mining operation and processing options, describing the results of the assessment specified in the programme phase and evaluates the technical viability of the project from the environmental point of view.
VHOy anticipates the EIA procedure will be completed in less than 12 months and will be followed immediately with the Environmental Permit Application.

“We are incredibly pleased that Vulcan Hautalampi Oy has commenced the EIA procedure so quickly. The EIA is an important step in the process of preparing a fully-fledged mine and battery chemicals plant. This brings Eurobattery Minerals closer to becoming a supplier of ethically sourced and traceable minerals and chemicals critical for the EV industry”, said Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals.

VHOy (aka FinnCobalt), has informed the Company that the process for advancing the EIA for combined mining and processing at Hautalampi has commenced. It is the Company’s vision to produce Cu-concentrate and either Ni-Co-concentrate or even high value battery Ni-Co-chemicals suitable for electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing. This would fulfil the Company’s strategy of being a foundation member of the EV battery value chain in Europe.

The purpose of the EIA procedure is to generate information on the environmental impacts of a project, facilitate the consideration of environmental issues in planning and decision-making processes, and give the public and other stakeholders opportunities to participate in and affect these processes. An EIA must be conducted for all mining projects and is defined by law (EIA Act and Decree [227/2017]). The developer is responsible for investigating and assessing the environmental impacts of the project.

A preliminary consultation meeting has been held between key authorities and VHOy. The involvement of key stakeholders throughout the assessment process is a prerequisite and VHOy looks forward to engaging with them throughout the procedure. VHOy will convene an EIA-procedure monitoring group to facilitate the flow of information.

EIA procedure

The EIA procedure forms part of project planning and is conducted before any decisions are made to officially approve a proposed project. The EIA has two main phases resulting in the publication of an EIA programme and an EIA report. Arrangements for participation play an important role in both phases (Figure 1). The EIA programme will be published and a public hearing will be organised. All relevant stakeholders have a right to give their view of the planned EIA. The EIA procedure concludes with a view and justified conclusion provided by the coordinating environmental authority.

The most essential steps in the EIA procedure include: an assessment of the current state of the environment; definitions of various project alternatives, assessments of their environmental impacts, and a comprehensive picture of the impacts of the project and its implementation alternatives, presented together with assessments of the scale and significance of such impacts; plans for the mitigation of detrimental impacts; and the publication of an accurate and coherent EIA report. It must assess impacts on nature, human beings and the built environment and cover exceptional situations, environmental accidents, and means to mitigate adverse impacts.

Figure 1. EIA procedure (from Finnish Environment Institute).

Envineer Oy

Envineer Oy is a Finnish planning and consulting company founded in 2017. It operates throughout Finland and provides services from small design tasks to managing large projects. Envineer offers expert services in environmental consulting, nature surveys and assessments, contaminated land, waste management and material recovery, spatial planning, geo- and structural engineering, construction, and environmental research and rehabilitation. At the heart of the services are flexibility, reliability and expertise. It is a strong expert in mining, earth and aggregate projects and supporting the implementation of regulatory obligations.

For further information, please contact:

Roberto García Martínez, CEO

About Eurobattery Minerals

Eurobattery Minerals is a mining and prospecting company focused on battery minerals such as nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements. Business activities and operations are conducted exclusively in Europe with a focus on Finland, Spain and Sweden. The Company has one mining licence and eight exploration licences. The headquarters are located in Stockholm.

Augment Partners AB, e-mail: info@augment.se, phone: +46 8 505 651 72, is the company’s Mentor.

Second quarter 2020 (same period previous year)

Net sales amounted to SEK 0 (SEK 0).
Operating income after depreciation/amortisation and financial items totalled SEK –2,934 thousand (SEK –4,736 thousand).
Earnings per share after depreciation/amortisation and financial items amounted to SEK –0.53 (SEK –0.77).
Cash flow from operating activities was SEK –1,124 thousand (SEK –4,100 thousand).

First six months 2020 (same period as previous year)

Net sales amounted to SEK 0 (SEK 0).
Operating income after depreciation/amortisation and financial items totalled SEK –5,182 thousand (SEK –6,840 thousand).
Earnings per share after depreciation/amortisation and financial items amounted to SEK –0.53 (SEK –1.12).
Cash flow from operating activities was SEK –3,646 thousand (SEK –5,664 thousand).

Significant events during the period

The Company announced the option to acquire Vulcan Hautalampi Oy (VHOy), sole owner of the Hautalampi Nickel-Cobalt-Copper (Ni-Co-Cu) Project, located in the historic mining centre of Outokumpu, Finland. The transaction is a transformational deal for the Company, positioning it as a near-term producer of critical battery metals [1].
Final results were received from nickel in sulphide mineral assays on mineralised samples from 2019 drilling at the Castriz prospect, part of the Corcel Ni-Co-Cu Project in NW Spain [2].
Prospective area at Castriz now confirmed for over 700m in strike length and approximately 700m in width with mineralisation commencing at surface to a vertical depth of 200m, making Castriz potentially amenable to low-cost, open pit bulk mining. Mineralisation is still open in several directions [3].
Collaboration with Uppsala University and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow on the vanadium potential of rock sequences at the Fetsjön project in Västerbotten determined the host mineral to be a variety of rutile.
The Company has been pre-selected to take part in the EU project S3-MINE.
A rights issue was launched to raise up to SEK 46.5m (€4.44m). The rights issue was secured to SEK 23.3m by the Company’s CEO, Roberto Garcia Martinez, and external underwriters. The proceeds from the rights issue will be used to increase the Company’s beneficial interest in VHOy by advancing the Hautalampi Project in Finland and to continue financing the Corcel Project in Spain.
The Company welcomed the election of Henrik Johannesson as Chairman. Henrik has broad experience across industries and markets, including extensive executive management experience. Monia Benbouzid and Martin Boldt-Christmas stepped down from the Board of the Company to coincide with Henrik Johannesson’s appointment.

Significant events after the period

The Company has completed the rights issue of units with a subscription period from 29 June to 14 July 2020. The rights issue was subscribed to 209 percent and the Company will receive approximately SEK 47.3 million before issue costs [4].
The Company announced that Vulcan Hautalampi Oy commenced drilling at the Hautalampi nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu) project in Outokumpu, eastern Finland [5].

Summary of CEO comments:

The second quarter of 2020 has been one of the most active periods since I assumed my role as CEO of Eurobattery Minerals. I am pleased to say that we have made considerable progress in our vision of helping Europe become self-sufficient in terms of ethical and fully traceable battery minerals for the electric vehicle industry. This includes advancements in our current projects, expansion of our operations to include Finland, and strengthening of our Company management with our new Chairman of the Board.

With the continuous health crisis connected to COVID-19 the Company has successfully adapted its working methods, and we have managed to continue operating according to plan”.

Eurobattery Minerals AB Interim Report January – June 2020 is attached to this press release and is available to download from the Company’s website: https://eurobatteryminerals.com//en/economic-reports/

For further information, please contact:

Roberto García Martínez, CEO