European Green Transition (EGT), an Irish-led company cofounded by serial entrepreneur Cathal Friel and focused on assets needed for the green energy transition, said it expects to sell or secure a partner “in the near future” for its key rare minerals project in Sweden after it delivered positive drilling results.
The London-listed company said in its initial public offering (IPO) documents in March that its Olserum project – one of its initial assets – has the potential to become Europe’s first operating rare earths mine.
EGT said in a statement on Tuesday that four holes drilled in August had confirmed “significant REE [rare earth element] mineralisation” that points to it potentially being a large, so-called “district scale”, project.
The company’s IPO prospectus said the Olserum project contained rare elements such as dysprosium, neodymium and praseodymium. They are used, respectively, to make wind turbines, electronics and high-powered magnets, among other things.
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The European Council adopted a framework earlier this year that requires EU members to have national exploration plans for rare earth elements to ensure there is enough supply to meet soaring demand for minerals needed for the green transition.
“The objective of our drill programme at the Olserum REE project was to de-risk the project and support the monetisation of the project in the near future,” said Aiden Lavelle, EGT’s chief executive.
“The initial results provide strong validation of the project’s district scale REE potential. We look forward to receiving the remainder of the results later this year, which will be crucial as we look to realise value through a sale or partnership of the project, enabling EGT to direct its focus towards revenue-generating opportunities in the green energy transition.”
EGT’s other projects include another critical metals prospect in Sweden and one in Germany; an option to buy into a project to extract copper left over from a Cypriot mine that was in production for four decades until 1978; and a project looking into a potential peatland carbon sink programme in serial entrepreneur Mr Friel’s native Co Donegal.
Shares in EGT are currently trading at 9.5 pence on London’s junior stock market, 0.5p off its IPO price.
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