European Lithium’s annual report, published September 30, confirmed that BMW has terminated its supply agreement for lithium from the Koralm project in Carinthia, Austria — a venture that has been promised for more than a decade without a single tonne extracted. The advance payment BMW had previously made has already been returned to the German automaker.
The project timeline explains the automaker’s patience running out. European Lithium first secured the Carinthian deposit rights in 2011; production was originally flagged for roughly ten years ago, yet neither the operating licence nor the extraction permit has been granted. Austria’s Administrative Court is weighing whether the project must undergo a full environmental impact assessment, with environmental groups expecting a ruling no earlier than 2027 — and a referral to the European Court of Justice could stretch the timeline by roughly two more years.
The Koralm deposit sits inside Critical Metals, in which European Lithium holds about a 30 percent stake, and that relationship now drives the agenda: shareholders and option holders vote October 22 on the all-share merger with Critical Metals Corp, targeting November completion. The floating swap ratio runs from 0.025 to 0.045 CRML shares per European Lithium security; holders would emerge with 41 percent of the combined entity. An independent expert labelled the offer “not fair, but reasonable.”
The annual report also showed liquid funds of A$296.3 million at June 30 and a A$1.276 billion non-cash book gain from deconsolidating Critical Metals. The shares closed at 0.2455 euros, up 171 percent since January — the market is pricing the merger, not the mine.