Western Australian based company South East Asia Resources has entered an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of private company Centralist, which includes five exploration licences in emerging lithium producing country Serbia.
The five licences cover approximately 329sqkm in Serbia that are prospective for lithium. There has been no recent geological exploration for lithium by any public company or any mine production on any of the project areas.
“The proposed acquisition offers the company an opportunity to focus on mineral exploration and development, in particular lithium, which has the potential to deliver growth to the company for the benefit of shareholders,” South East Asia Resources said.
Serbia is emerging as a key lithium/REE bearing country. It is the only country with known sources of Jadarite, a new lithium-borate mineral, discovered by Rio Tinto subsidiary Rio Sava in 2004.
Earlier this year Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding with the Serbian Government for the development of the Jadar lithium discovery. If developed, production at Jadar could supply around 10 per cent of global demand for lithium, according to Rio Tinto.
Two of South East Asia Resources’ proposed licences are located near the Jadar project.
The acquisition is subject to South East Asia Resources securing all regulatory and shareholder approvals.