September 7 (SeeNews) - Australian-based company South East Asia Resources said on Thursday it is going to acquire five lithium exploration licences in Serbia.
The licences, covering an area of approximately 329 sq km, will be acquired as a result of the acquisition of the entire issued capital of their owner, Centralist Pty Ltd, for which South East Asia Resources has entered into a conditional binding agreement.
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The Serbian lithium projects are greenfield exploration areas covering regions that are considered prospective for lithium and other pegmatite hosted minerals. There has been no recent geological exploration for these minerals by any public companies or any mine production on any of the project areas, South East Asia Resources said in a statement.
Additionally, these projects are strategically placed for European manufacturers using lithium, being just a nine-hour drive from the industrial heartland of Germany, the company added.
Serbia is rapidly emerging as an underexplored but very fertile lithium bearing country and is the only current known source of Jadarite, a new lithium-borate bearing mineral discovered in 2004 by Rio Sava, a wholly owned subsidiary of mining corporation Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto’s Jadar lithium borate discovery in Serbia is 135.7 million tonnes with a weighted average concentration of 1.86% of lithium oxide (Li2O), representing one of the largest lithium deposits in the world.