The extension issued by the Czech authorities runs until the end of 2020.

The Czech Ministry of the Environment said it would consider a further licence continuation, but European Metals said it "does not envisage that a further extension will be necessary".

Cinovec has an indicated mineral resource of about seven million tonnes of lithium carbonate-equivalent. European Metals wants to build a refinery in the Czech Republic, able to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide, by 2022.

The company sought an extension to allow it to carry out further metallurgical and measured-resource drilling - not possible under its preliminary permits.  

European Metals holds preliminary mining permits for the east and south deposits at Cinovec, and has applied for a permit for the northwest deposit area.

If that application is approved the three granted PMPs would cover the entire area of the Cínovec deposit.