The Zinnwald Lithium Project: Transferring legacy exploration data into new mineral resources

The Erzgebirge represents one of the most important metallogenic provinces in Europe and was mined for various metals (i.e. Ag, Sn, U) over centuries. All mining activities were abandoned in the early 1990s, but recent technological and geopolitical developments have brought the Erzgebirge back into the focus of the raw material sector. The leucogranite hosted greisen deposit Zinnwald, historically mined for Sn and W, was systematically explored between 1945 and 1989. Despite the massive presence of the lithium mica Zinnwaldite, its raw material potential remained unused. The combination of legacy data and results of recent exploration (2012-2019) demonstrates that the deposit hosts significant Li resources (35.5 Mt averaging 3,500 ppm Li) and thus has the potential to contribute substantially to the domestic production of Germany.