Lithium, cobalt or nickel, these metals essential to the manufacture of electric batteries which will replace automobile heat engines contributing to global warming, are so sought after that Europe is preparing to open mines and refineries in an attempt to reduce its dependence on gas. imports.
There is no “almost no lithium production” of a level of quality adapted to batteries currently, observes for AFP Robert Colbourn, analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence in London, specializing in metals of the energy transition.
“Europe is not on the lithium map, neither for mining nor for processing”, he adds.
The world’s largest producer is Australia (over 50%), and China refines more than half (60%) of “l’or blanc” of the energy transition, by transforming it into lithium carbonate or hydroxide.
In total, including nickel and cobalt, a French report submitted on Monday estimates that Europe will not exceed 30% of self-sufficiency in 2030 on these metals which make it possible to store and transport electricity.
And, while around thirty battery factory projects are announced in Europe, their metal supply is far from resolved.
The subject will be on the table of European industry ministers on January 31 and February 1 in Lens. It was discussed Thursday at a European conference in Paris, France having made the strategic industrial independence of the 27 one of the priorities of its rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.
“Developing electric batteries without securing our lithium, nickel and cobalt needs is not sustainable over time, we are dependent on third countries which concentrate all production and refining”, said Minister of Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher on Thursday.
In Europe, four lithium-battery mining projects have been identified and should see the light of day “by 2024“, participants said, allowing to cover”80% of battery needs“.
According to the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM), the main European deposits are located in Serbia, Portugal, Germany, the Czech Republic, but also in France in mineral form in the Massif Central and Armorican, and in geothermal form in Alsace.
But any exploitation of mines or extraction quarries must be done while minimizing the environmental impacts, and in transparency, warn NGOs and scientists.
The EU also wants to establish a standard “responsible“extraction to try to convince its reluctant public opinion to launch mining projects.
“Do not forbid yourself”
In December, the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, which has funded exploration studies in Jadar in Serbia since 2004, suffered protests from opponents demanding the publication of environmental impact reports.
In France, the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili recently said that the country should not “forbid oneself nothing “ in terms of extraction, provided they have environmental green lights.
The government has just launched a call for projects from manufacturers with initiatives to extract or refine lithium, cobalt, nickel and even iridium.
It’s urgent. For the International Energy Agency, global demand will be multiplied by 40 by 2040.
“By 2030, Europe’s only lithium needs – for batteries – will exceed 500,000 tonnes per year, which is more than current world production”, which amounted to some 475,000 tonnes in 2021, adds Colbourn.
In Argentina, the French mining group Eramet announced the opening in 2024 of a plant with the Chinese Tsingshan which should produce “15% of European lithium needs” according to its CEO Christel Bories.
Eramet has also succeeded in extracting lithium from geothermal brine in Alsace (eastern France). A first which opens up industrial prospects in the Rhine ditch.
In Germany, an Australian mining group touts its lithium “zero carbon footprint” marketed under the Vulcan brand, with which Renault and Stellantis are associated.
What about refining?
On the refining side, in 2024 Germany will host a plant from the Canadian group Rock Tech Lithium.
In Portugal, where a refining project between the Portuguese Galp Energies and the Swedish battery manufacturer NorthVolt has just been announced, the authorities are awaiting the verdict of the environmental authority on a mining project called Savannah.
The EU has also signed partnerships with Ukraine, and is working “with Canada, Serbia or Latin America“to depend less on China,” said European Commissioner Thierry Breton on Thursday.
In the “ABC” triangle of lithium (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile), the world’s second largest source of white gold, Chile, the world’s largest producer until 2016, for its part announced on Thursday the award of a concession for ‘exploration and production at a Chinese and a Chilean company for 80,000 tonnes of lithium each, in the hope of “to regain its place on the world stage“.