Europe is seeking to expand its lithium mining and refining capacity and wean itself off imports as the “white gold” becomes a vital resource in the fight against climate change.
Alongside nickel and cobalt, lithium allows electricity to be stored and transported, making them essential in electric battery production as vehicle manufacturers move away from polluting fossil fuels.
However, Europe mostly depends on external sources for the strategically important and increasingly coveted metals.
Photo: AFP
Australia is the world’s biggest lithium producer, while China is home to 60 percent of global lithium refining, transforming the metal into carbonate or lithium hydroxide.
The increasingly urgent subject was on the agenda of EU ministers and officials at a conference in Paris on Thursday.
It is also set to be the menu when EU industry ministers gather in the northern French city of Lens on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
Europe “really is not on the map” when it comes to mining or processing lithium, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence analyst Robert Colbourn said.
“There are a lot of lithium mines in development today in Europe, or projects trying to come online, but really there is no lithium production” of battery quality, he said.
The International Energy Agency has predicted global demand for lithium would be 40 times greater by 2040, with 475,000 tonnes of lithium produced last year.
However, Europe would not even meet more than 30 percent of its lithium, nickel and cobalt needs in 2030, a report submitted to the French government this week showed.
“Our forecast is that by 2030, Europe is probably going to need over 500,000 tons of lithium a year, which is bigger than the world market today,” Colbourn said, adding that battery production is driving the soaring demand.
The EU recently added lithium to its list of critical metals.
With plans for at least 38 new electric battery plants in Europe, the question of supplying them with the necessary metals is far from being resolved.
“We need very strong measures. The idea for the 27 is not to go from depending on oil to depending on metals,” a source at the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance said. “We depend far too much on external powers, especially China.”
Europe does not lack the coveted raw materials, with deposits in France, Germany, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Serbia.
The French government has set aside a budget of 1 billion euros (US$1.14 billion) and launched tenders to extract or refine lithium, cobalt, nickel and iridium.
French mining firm Eramet has also extracted lithium from geothermal brine in Alsace, eastern France, a technological breakthrough that could open up further exploration in the River Rhine basin.
An Australian mining group has said it produces carbon-neutral lithium in Germany under the Vulcan brand, which has attracted auto giants Stellantis NV and Groupe Renault.
Germany is also in 2024 to host a refinery built by Canadian group Rock Tech Lithium.
In Portugal, a lithium refinery led by Portuguese oil company Galp Energia SGPS SA and Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt AB has just been announced.
However, non-governmental organizations and scientists have warned of the environmental impact of increased mining activity.
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Group, which has financed mining exploration studies in Serbia since 2004, last month faced protests in the Balkan nation as demonstrators demanded that reports on the project’s environmental impact be published.
Portugal’s environmental regulator is also due to rule on a lithium mining project in the north of the country.
French Minister of the Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili has said the country should “rule out nothing” regarding extraction if it is environmentally sound.
Europe could also increase its South American lithium sources. Argentina, Bolivia and Chile form a “lithium triangle” that is the world’s second-largest producer of the valuable metal.
Eramet said it would open a plant in Argentina in 2024 with Chinese firm Tsingshan Holding Group Co (青山控股), with Eramet chief executive Christel Bories saying it would meet 15 percent of Europe’s lithium needs.
Chile, which was the world’s top lithium producer until 2016, on Thursday granted an exploration and production concession to a Chinese and a Chilean company.
Each firm would be allocated 80,000 tonnes of lithium as Chile hopes to regain its leading place on the global stage.
Other commodities:
‧Gold for February delivery fell US$4.90 to US$1,816.50 an ounce, gaining 1.06 percent from a week earlier.
‧Silver for March delivery fell US$0.24 to US$22.92 an ounce, posting a weekly increase of 2.28 percent, while March copper fell US$0.13 to US$4.42 a pound, up 0.23 percent on the week.
Additional reporting by AP
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