Battery Age Minerals (ASX:BM8) is eyeing a “promising new exploration opportunity” in the form of the Bleiberg Zinc-Lead-Germanium Mine in Austria.
Battery Age, which has a $9.64 million market capitalisation, has dispatched its senior geologists to access and collate over 100 years of historic mining data from the mine, which it expects will help develop an exploration plan and fast-track exploration of strategically targeted extensions of known mineralisation.
During this time, the company will also undertake site visits and liaise with the local community to build and strengthen relationships with local mining bodies.
The company is primarily focused on the early-stage exploration of germanium, a ‘highly strategic’ mineral used in a range of specialist applications, including high-performance logic chips, which are used in electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.
It is Battery Age’s goal to expedite germanium exploration in Austria alongside its ongoing work at its Falcon Lake Lithium Project in Canada.
Desktop studies at the Bleiberg Project have recorded over 172 tonnes of germanium production from just a portion of the mine, which was also a nationally ‘significant’ producer of zinc, lead, cadmium, and fluorite until its closure in 1993.
At the time of closure, Bleiberg was the 6th largest producer of germanium globally and one of the largest outside of China. More recently, China’s recent restrictive export policy on germanium and gallium further enhances the strategic importance of the Bleiberg asset.
Battery Age Minerals CEO Nigel Broomham says: “We are pleased to have a team on the ground in Austria to start the process of data collation and review at the Bleiberg Project.
“We are looking forward to continuing to build our relationship with the GKB team and other key stakeholders in Austria and to building positive relationships that will support our upcoming exploration endeavours.
“This exercise will allow us to validate the invaluable database encompassing 100-years exploration and production information, which we can leverage to develop a highly targeted exploration plan which we can then fast-track by working closely with the custodian of the adjacent Bleiberg mine and the key players in the region.”
Battery Age Minerals is a battery minerals explorer focused on rapidly growing its Falcon Lake Project which covers 42.8km-square and sits in Ontario, Canada.
As of December 2023, the company had roughly $3 million in cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest half yearly accounts.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Battery Age Minerals
