Lithium: Imerys will exploit lithium mine in France

 World leader in industrial minerals Imerys announced monday 24 october that in the french town of Echassières, writes Le Monde: 

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https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2022/10/24/first-lithium-mining-project-launched-in-france_6001570_19.html

On Monday, October 24, the Imerys group, the world leader in industrial specialty minerals, announced the launch of a major lithium mining project in Echassières (central France). Since the end of the 19^th century, this open-pit mine – named "de Beauvoir" after the former operating company and located on the edge of the Colettes forest on the border between the Allier and Puy-de-Dôme departments – has produced 25,000 to 30,000 tons of kaolin for ceramics every year.

Studies and core sampling predict the presence at a great depth of high concentrations of lithium hydroxide, a total of 1 million tonnes containing between 0.9% and 1% of oxide, confirming the estimates of the French Geological and Mining Research Bureau (BRGM). This deposit will enable 34,000 tons to be extracted over 25 years, making Imerys a leading supplier to the European market, with a capacity to equip 700,000 vehicles per year with lithium-ion batteries.

In addition to the studies already carried out for €30 million, the project will require a minimum investment of €1 billion, based on an estimated lithium production cost of €7-9 euros/kilo. Imerys considers this "very competitive, particularly on the European market, and sufficient to guarantee a return on investment in line with group guidelines."

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https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2022/10/24/first-lithium-mining-project-launched-in-france_6001570_19.html

Renewables: the devastation of nature for sustainable technologies

Deforestation and environmental devastation from mining activities - especially in third world countries - are the little-known downside of the energy shift, explains WELT:

When Ecuador reported a new wood export record, the spokesman for the indigenous association NAE called for an export stop of the coveted balsa wood. "Stop your investments," said the letter to international donors in June. "The loggers are causing a division among the indigenous brothers."

Battery technology: australian start-up Vulcan Energy buys German geothermal power station

 Source Der Spiegel:

The Australian lithium start-up Vulcan Energy is pushing ahead with its plans to extract the element that is important for battery production in Germany. Vulcan's German subsidiary is buying a geothermal power plant in the Upper Rhine Valley for around 31.5 million euros. As the company announced, it will take over the power plant from the regional energy supplier Pfalzwerke. A first pilot plant for the production of lithium hydroxide is to be put into test operation at the geothermal power plant in Insheim in the Palatinate.

Vulcan is working on the supply of lithium to Volkswagen and other European automakers such as Opel parent company Stellantis. You have already placed orders because lithium is needed in the manufacture of batteries for electric cars. From the point of view of experts, however, the company still has to prove that its idea for lithium extraction actually works financially lucrative enough on a large industrial scale.