Albania is located in the south-eastern Balkan region of Europe. It has a stable parliamentary democracy and is a European Union (EU) Candidate Country. It was formally invited to join NATO in 2008 and has an excellent tax regime with one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world.

Columbus Copper controls mineral licences covering the most prospective and productive chromite terrain in Albania. Chromite is essential in the production of stainless steel. Demand is fed principally by China which produces some 40% of the world's stainless steel but imports almost all of its chromite supply. Throughout the communist era Albania was one of the primary producers of chromite in the world, peaking at about one million tonnes annually during the 1980's. Some 80% of that production was from the Bulqiza and Batra mines* that underlay Columbus Copper's principal chromite licence: the Bulqiza-Batra Licence. This chromite was, and still is, recognised as some of the finest quality in the world due to its high chrome to iron ratio that commonly exceeds 2.5:1 with best grades in excess of 3:1. This places Albania along with Kazakhstan and Turkey as countries that produce high grade (+38% Cr₂O₃) and high quality premium-priced direct shipping ore that goes into high quality stainless steel.

Columbus Copper's Bulqiza-Batra Licence includes the interpreted east and west mineralized extensions of the fold structure controlling and hosting the chromite ores in the Bulqiza and Batra mines* and also includes much of the past producing Thekna Mine which is reported to host an historical resource of 330,000 tonnes grading +40% Cr₂O₃ and where Columbus Copper's drilling in 2011 has demonstrated scope for significant expansion.

In 2011, as a result of irregularities with the renewal of its licences, Columbus Copper placed the chromite projects on care and maintenance and launched a lawsuit against the Albanian Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Energy. In 2012, Columbus Copper announced that it won at trial and on a subsequent appeal and that it has recovered its full legal rights to its chromite licences.

* Some portions of the historical Bulqiza and Batra mines are not included as part of Columbus Copper's Bulqiza-Batra Licence.