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Critical Metals’ Takeover of European Lithium Becomes Effective, Pairing Greenland Rare Earths With an Austrian Lithium Mine

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Nasdaq-listed Critical Metals Corp completed the legal steps to take over Australia-listed European Lithium Limited on October 27, 2026, a day after the Supreme Court of Western Australia approved the all-share merger. The transaction combines Critical Metals’ Tanbreez rare earth project in southern Greenland with European Lithium’s Wolfsberg lithium project in Austria, which the companies describe as the first fully permitted lithium mine in Europe. European Lithium’s shares and listed options were suspended from trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) from the close of trading on October 27, ahead of the company’s planned removal from the ASX in early November.

How the Merger Is Structured

The deal runs through two court-approved schemes of arrangement under Australia’s Corporations Act 2001: a share scheme covering European Lithium’s ordinary shareholders and a separate option scheme for holders of its listed options (ASX: EUROC). European Lithium shareholders backed the transaction overwhelmingly, with 99.96% of votes cast in favor. Consideration is paid entirely in newly issued Critical Metals shares — there is no cash component. The exchange ratio was set at 0.045 new Critical Metals shares for every European Lithium share held, after the companies revised the ratio upward from an initial 0.035 proposal on October 21. The option scheme’s exact exchange rate and final share count were due to be confirmed on October 28.

Under the transaction timetable, October 29 is the record date for scheme consideration, November 5 is the implementation date on which shares are delivered, and the new Critical Metals shares are expected to begin trading on Nasdaq on November 6 — the same day European Lithium is due to be removed from the ASX Official List.

Two Critical Minerals Projects, One Balance Sheet

Critical Metals calls Tanbreez, located in southern Greenland, its flagship asset and describes it as one of the world’s largest rare earth deposits, citing year-round direct shipping access through the area’s deep-water fjords. European Lithium’s Wolfsberg project sits in Carinthia, about 270 kilometers south of Vienna, and is marketed as the first fully permitted lithium mine on the European continent, with existing road and rail links. Neither company’s merger announcements disclosed updated resource estimates, mine capacities or production timelines for either asset, so those figures will need to come from future technical reports.

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Why Brussels Wants Its Own Lithium and Rare Earths

The merger lands as the European Union pushes to reduce its reliance on imported battery and magnet materials. Under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act, Brussels has set 2030 benchmarks under which domestic extraction should cover at least 10% of the bloc’s annual consumption of strategic raw materials, domestic processing should cover 40%, and recycling should supply 25% — with no single non-EU country allowed to supply more than 65% of any one strategic material. Europe currently processes only a small share of the lithium and rare earths it consumes domestically, and a fully permitted, in-construction-ready mine like Wolfsberg is unusual on a continent where new mining permits can take years. Greenland, meanwhile, has drawn rising strategic interest from Washington, Brussels and Beijing alike over the past two years because of its mostly unexploited rare earth and mineral deposits.

Market Reaction and What Comes Next

Critical Metals’ Nasdaq-listed shares (ticker: CRML) fell roughly 7% on October 28, according to 24/7 Wall St, as the market absorbed the prospect of new shares hitting the market once the merger completes — a reversal from an approximately 8% gain the stock had posted a day earlier during a broader rally in critical-minerals stocks that also lifted peers United States Antimony, USA Rare Earth and MP Materials. The next concrete milestones are the October 29 record date, the November 5 implementation date and the November 6 Nasdaq debut of the enlarged company’s shares, alongside European Lithium’s exit from the ASX.