“Lithium and uncommon earths will quickly be extra necessary than oil and gasoline”, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen stated final September.

The Fee chief pronounced these phrases as Europe was reeling from an power disaster accelerated by Russia’ conflict in Ukraine and which led to the bloc pledging to wean itself off fossil fuels — most of which it has historically equipped from Russia — and speed up its transition in direction of “homegrown” renewables and different inexperienced tech.

These, nonetheless, depend on so-called uncommon earths that are wanted to supply all the things from the most recent technology batteries to the supplies wanted to fabricate photovoltaic panels.

“The urgency now could be securing [lithium] provides, it’s actually actually pressing,” Dr Evi Petavratzi, a senior mineral commodity geologist on the British Geological Survey advised Euronews.

America Geological Survey estimates that Europe is dwelling to 7% of world lithium deposits, sufficient to cowl 80% of European battery wants. 

However the bother is there’s solely one lively business lithium within the EU.

Why are new mines so exhausting to open?

New mines at the moment take a long time to get permitted, as a consequence of fierce opposition by native individuals and politicians who’re involved about environmental and social penalties.

An instance of that is the Norra Kärr uncommon earth factor venture in southern Sweden. Regardless of this sediment being present in 2009 and a 25-year mining licence being granted in 2013, no metals have been extracted.

The licence granting led to giant protests over environmental considerations and the extraction licence was overturned in 2016 and a mine leasing software was rejected in 2021.

Talking in regards to the environmental affect of hard-rock mining, Dr Simon Jowitt, an financial geologist and affiliate professor at UNLV Division of Geoscience stated: “There’s all the time a sure potential affect on the atmosphere, on floor and repair water.”

“Each mine is a bit of totally different by way of that potential, however there’s all the time some. There’s additionally the chance posed by mud from mines.”

Most lithium is extracted by considered one of two strategies: photo voltaic evaporation and hard-rock mining.

The photo voltaic evaporation methodology, which is famously utilized in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, includes pumping brine answer to the floor and leaving it to evaporate.

The largest considerations with this type of extracting lithium are its excessive water utilization, potential depletion of groundwater ranges, and the waste salt which is left behind. Roughly 2.2 million litres of water is required to supply one tonne of lithium utilizing this methodology.

The opposite most typical approach of extracting this valuable steel is thru extra conventional hard-rock mining, sometimes utilizing opencast pits.

Not solely are such pits an eyesore, however mud from such mines can even unfold to surrounding areas sparking well being and environmental considerations. Moreover, the processing of the mined materials can even use important quantities of water.

Nevertheless, it is very important put the dangers concerned in valuable steel mining within the context of the profit they bring about from decreasing fossil gasoline extraction.

Greater costs enabling extra sophisticated extractions

Elevated demand for batteries — it’s set to blow up 14-fold between 2020 to 2030 — has pushed up the demand and value of lithium from about $20,000 per tonne 5 years in the past to $80,000 per tonne final November and pushed innovation into new, dearer, mining strategies that mitigate potential impacts on the atmosphere.

An instance of that is the proposed San José de Valdeflórez lithium mine in Spain’s Western province of Extremadura.

Initially proposed as an open-pit mine lower than a kilometre away from the UNESCO mediaeval metropolis of Cáceres and a pure reserve, the venture confronted fierce opposition from all quarters.

Nevertheless, Extremadura New Energies (ENE), the Spanish subsidiary of Infinity Lithium, is now planning on constructing the mine fully underground with the doorway of the mine being positioned 2 km away from the town.

The fabric can even be crushed contained in the enclosed mine, chopping the chance of mud air pollution.

It has additionally unveiled plans to make use of patented expertise which implies the mine won’t have to make use of sulfuric acid for lithium extraction, leading to a zero-flow discharge mine. This dramatically reduces the chance of contaminating surrounding land water sources.

Moreover, the automobiles and mining operations will likely be powered by renewable power, together with from a brand new inexperienced hydrogen plant.

Nevertheless, these mitigation strategies had been solely launched following objections by native individuals and authorities – highlighting the significance of native engagement in bettering lithium mining.

Moreover, though the deliberations and debates over the San José de Valdeflórez venture resulted in a much-improved finish venture, it has been a protracted journey because it was first proposed in 2015.

Regardless of this, the venture’s environmental affect has by no means been permitted or evaluated. The corporate is at the moment looking for approval for an exploration allow and hopes to submit the venture for environmental analysis by April this yr.

An area protest group, Salvemos la Montaña (Let’s Save the Mountain), has additionally gained important assist in its marketing campaign in opposition to the venture.

EU mining ambitions

The Fee needs Europe to construct a extra resilient provide chain to cut back its reliance on strategic opponents for imports and processing of uncommon metals.

In a doc revealed final yr, The Fee said it might introduce targets into laws, for instance, that a minimum of 30% of the EU’s demand for refined lithium ought to originate from the EU by 2030. One other purpose is to make sure that the time from the beginning of exploration work to a mine or a refining facility opening is decreased to a matter of years, not a long time.

To do this, it plans “to facilitate the roll-out of focused uncooked supplies initiatives within the EU” and for the Fee to be empowered to “checklist Strategic Tasks – which might be labelled as of European curiosity – primarily based on proposals from member states.”

Ramón Jiménez, CEO of ENE advised Euronews he actually believes that “it’s potential to make this course of quicker with out decreasing environmental or social affect reductions”.

He stated that his San José de Valdeflórez venture had loved sturdy assist from the central Spanish authorities. Nevertheless, convincing central governments could be the straightforward half, convincing native residents will likely be key if the EU actually needs to spice up its mining output.