Regional Government Increases Commitment For Lithium Projects

Infinity Lithium Corporation Limited (‘Infinity’, or ‘the Company’) is pleased to acknowledge the announcement from the Regional Government of Extremadura (‘Junta de Extremadura’) in response to modifications applied to the Extremadura Lithium Decree Law 5/2022 (‘Lithium Decree Law’) (ASX announcement 3 October 2022).

HIGHLIGHTS

• Regional Government of Extremadura reinforces commitment to lithium projects in Extremadura.
• Stimulus measures and provision of legal guarantees advocated by the regional government for companies to facilitate lithium mineral processing in the region.
• Federal Constitutional Court declares exploitation of lithium resources in Extremadura as projects of general and regional interest (PREMIA).
• San José to advance PREMIA application to accelerate permitting pathway.

The Junta of Extremadura has reinforced its commitment to the development of lithium projects in the region through "promoting stimulus measures that provide competitive advantages for companies that want to process lithium mineral resources in the region, and for this all the legal guarantees that provide greater security to companies are also necessary".

The federal Constitutional Court (‘the Court’) has required amendments be made to Lithium Decree Law to remove Articles 2 to 4 annulling expropriation provisions and the requirement for all lithium exploited within the region be further processed to battery grade lithium chemicals in Extremadura. The Junta de Extremadura announced the stimulus measures in response to the modifications of the Court.

Under the modification of the Lithium Decree Law, the San José Lithium Project (‘San José’, or ‘the Project’) retains benefits of the prior legislation. The Project also remains eligible for PREMIA project classification as a project of general and regional interest and qualification for accelerated permitting consideration. San José continues to qualify as a PREMIA project under both the Lithium Decree Law and regional Premia Decree Law. The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Extremadura New Energies, will now advance the application for PREMIA application following the clarification of the provisions of the Lithium Decree Law.

The federal Constitutional Court (‘the Court’) modification of the Lithium Decree Law retains that Article 1 remains in force, by which "the exploitation of the lithium mineral resources, existing or potential, in the whole territory of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura is declared to be of general interest".

Furthermore, the Court established that "the projects of concessions for the exploitation of lithium mineral resources in Extremadura referred to in this decree-law may be processed as business projects of regional interest under the protection of the applicable regional regulations".

Infinity CEO and Managing Director, Ryan Parkin, commented “the continued alignment of San José to local and regional stakeholders remains a priority for the Company and we welcome the commitment of the Regional Government to support socially, environmentally and economically beneficial lithium projects that are strategically critical for Spain and the EU’s green transition.”

The Company has responded to the local community and the regional government in the development pathway of the Project through continuous advancements in environmental improvements and potential increased production (see ASX announcement 7 September 2023), and remains committed to continuing the advancement of San José as a fully integrated industrial lithium chemical and resource project within the region of Extremadura.

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