Vulcan Energy Drills Deeper into Lionheart Execution as Market Awaits Tangible Proof

Vulcan Energy begins LSC-3 injection drilling at Lionheart, closing closed-loop lithium cycle after €2.2B financing; stock slips 3% as market awaits results.

Vulcan Energy pushed ahead with the third well at its Schleidberg site on Wednesday, June 17, marking the start of injection drilling at the Lionheart project. The company’s in-house drilling unit Vercana had already moved the rig into position over the preceding weekend, using a hydraulic sliding system to shift the nearly 60?meter?tall, fully electric V20 tower. The new borehole, designated LSC?3, is designed to reinject cooled, lithium?depleted brine back into the subsurface after heat and lithium extraction — a step that closes the loop Vulcan has promised investors since the project’s inception.

That closed?loop design is central to Lionheart’s investment case. Unlike earlier wells that focused on production, LSC?3 will serve as an injection well, returning the spent thermal brine to the geological formation. Without this piece, the entire cycle of lithium recovery, geothermal power generation and brine recirculation remains incomplete. The start of LSC?3 drilling therefore signals a shift from proof?of?concept to operational infrastructure.

The milestone comes just weeks after Vulcan locked down the full financing package for Lionheart. In late May, the company announced the financial close of a €2.2 billion funding facility, structured across project, subsidiary and corporate levels. The European Investment Bank committed €250 million, while commercial lenders ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, ING, Natixis and UniCredit joined alongside export credit agencies from five countries. The German state added €204 million in grants. Siemens, Hochtief and the KfW raw materials fund hold equity stakes. The project targets annual output of 24,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide monohydrate — enough for roughly 500,000 electric vehicle batteries — plus 275 GWh of renewable electricity and 560 GWh of heat for local off?takers. Commercial construction is expected to run about two?and?a?half years, with first production planned for 2028. The project’s operating life is set at 30 years.

Yet the stock has shown little enthusiasm. On the day LSC?3 drilling began, shares slipped nearly 3% to €2.06. That leaves the stock down roughly 21% since the start of the year and well below its 200?day moving average of €2.61. The 52?week high of €3.98, set in October 2025, remains almost 50% away. By mid?June, the price had also dipped under its 50?day average of €2.15, a technical level the stock had been hugging in earlier weeks. The market, it seems, is waiting for more than financial closure and drilling starts.

Results from the second Schleidberg borehole, which ran from mid?February to early April 2026, offered some reassurance. That well reached a vertical depth of approximately 2,845 metres — a total drilled length of nearly 3,000 metres thanks to directional drilling — and completed more efficiently than the first. Subsequent testing of flow rate, temperature and lithium concentration all came in within the forecast range, according to the company. That reduces geological uncertainty at this stage, but the full infrastructure chain is not yet in place.

Looking ahead, Vulcan plans two more wells at Schleidberg following LSC?3, plus the establishment of a second drilling site at Rohrbach, known as Trappelberg, where work is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026. The €2.2 billion financing provides the runway, but execution on the ground will determine whether the timeline holds. The next meaningful checkpoint is construction progress by the end of 2026; if that stays on track, the market may begin to price in the 2028 production target. For now, operational milestones alone have not been enough to lift the stock out of its technical rut — investors want to see the closed loop actually working.