United Lithium Corp. (“United Lithium” or the “Company”) (CSE: ULTH; OTCQX: ULTHF; FWB: 0UL) is pleased to announce that it has increased its land position in Finland and Sweden after acquiring the rights to the 54,400 hectare (“ha”) Kova Property reservation and the 13,900 ha Kast Property reservation in Finland, and the 14,000 ha Axmarby Property in Sweden (collectively, the “Properties”).
United Lithium has increased its Nordic holdings by almost 300% after acquiring the Properties, all within highly prospective geological terrains with potential to host lithium bearing pegmatites. The Company has obtained the rights to the Properties after acquiring all of the issued and outstanding common shares of two private companies, PR1 Finland Oy (“PR1”) (a wholly-owned Finnish subsidiary of Pure Resources Ltd.) and Scandinavian Battery Metals (“SBM”), a Canadian private company.
“Europe is the second largest EV market in the world and the continent is at the forefront of global carbon footprint reduction. The demand for domestic sources of raw materials to support decarbonization represents an opportunity for United Lithium and its shareholders. The acquisition of three new Properties increases our holdings within the underexplored Nordics in geological settings similar to the Keliber Lithium Mine, which is currently being built. Axmarby, in Sweden, is situated immediately north of our flagship Bergby Project and shares the same key infrastructure. Furthermore, the acquisition of Kast and Kova add additional prospective opportunities to our portfolio of properties in Finland,” commented President and CEO, Scott Eldridge.
As consideration for acquiring the Properties, the Company paid AUD$20,112 to Pure Resources Ltd. and made payments of CAD$40,050 and USD$110,984 to an arm’s-length third party vendor, in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding common shares of each respective company. At the time of the acquisition, SBM held the rights to acquire the Kova Property from PR1; however, as a condition of closing, the agreement between SBM and PR1 was terminated. The rights to the Axmarby Property are held by SBM, and are part of the Company’s SBM acquisition .
Pure Resources Ltd. will retain a 2% net smelter returns royalty (“NSR Royalty”) on the Kast Property and Kova Property, subject to a buyback right in favour of the Company, pursuant to which the Company may purchase 1% of the NSR Royalty at any time in exchange for payment of CAD$750,000. No such agreement is in place for the Axmarby Property, which remains royalty-free.
About the Kova Property
The Kova Property is situated approximately 150 km north of Helsinki and 50 km east of the City of Tampere (Figure 1) and covers 54,400 ha (54.4 sq. km). It is located on the northern margin of the Pirkanmaa migmatite belt (1.96 – 1.91 Ga), immediately to the south of the Tampere schist belt. Kova sits directly to the south from the Eräjärvi LCT-metallogenic area, where more than 70 pegmatite dykes enriched in B, Be, Li, Nb, Sn, and Ta have been identified (Lahti 1981, Alviola 2004). The area is in a prospective geological setting with the presence of late-orogenic (1.80 Ga) LCT type complex pegmatites that were previously mined.
The local geology is comprised of migmatites made up of mica (para) gneiss (turbidites, graywackes) with a lesser extent of mafic-intermediate volcanic rocks and amphibolites. Felsic plutonic rocks in the Kova area include granodiorites, aplite, pegmatite and tonalite and are considered early Svecofennian (1.91-1.88 Ga). In addition, complex structures with sheared and schistose metasediments further provided possible conduits for the pegmatite melts. Nearby known complex pegmatite deposits include the Seppalä LCT pegmatite and the historical Juurakko and Viitaniemi pegmatite mines are located directly north of the Kova claims.
Bedrock in the project area is well exposed with 220 pegmatites sites mapped by PR1 (see Pure Resources ASX announcement dated July 12, 2023). A field visit completed by United Lithium in the summer of 2023 confirmed the presence of dyke-like pegmatites striking NW-SE, ranging in thickness from centimeters to 5-10 meters and up to several tens of meters in length. The pegmatites are comprised of K-feldspar and quartz with variable amounts of biotite and muscovite. Tourmalines, ranging in size from medium to coarse to pegmatite-sized are found locally. Li-silicates were not observed.