De-globalisation: Can Europe supply itself with lithium?
In our series on de-globalisation, we explore the question of how far Germany and Europe can break free from import dependency.
Lithium extraction in the Nevada desert.
(Bild: Neil Lockhart/Shutterstock.com)
- Rainer Kurlemann
(Hier finden Sie die deutsche Version des Beitrags)
It was almost 200 years ago that Christian Gottlob Gmelin was studying rocks of different origins. The German chemist developed a detection method for the chemical element lithium. In 1826, Gmelin discovered that the mineral Zinnwaldit from the Ore Mountains contains lithium.
Back then, hardly anyone was interested in the raw material lithium, but today things are different. The metal could revive mining in the Ore Mountains, which ended after reunification. In Zinnwald, near the Czech border, Deutsche Lithium GmbH continued its series of test drillings this summer. The mining company wants to determine the thickness of the deposit and the lithium content of the rock.
Shenzhen, Yantian Port
(Bild: zhangyang13576997233 / Shutterstock.com)
The past months have painfully shown that dependence on resources comes at a high price. But can the wheel still be turned back? So let's take a look at the supply situation.
How far Europe could supply itself with strategically important raw materials and what that means for industry is what we want to explore with a raw materials article series.
Since 2011, the engineers have drilled 23 boreholes up to 400 metres deep in the Ore Mountains. The result is encouraging. The deposit is probably more than 100 metres thick. The company estimates that 125,000 tonnes of lithium could be mined on the German side of the Ore Mountains. The deposits on the Czech side are said to be even larger. The region is one of the largest deposits in Europe, Deutsche Lithium reports.
Increasing demand for lithium
Lithium is an important raw material for aluminium alloys and the construction of batteries. Global annual production was around 100,000 tonnes in 2020. The German Raw Materials Agency (Dera) expects the global demand for this metal to increase to four to six times the current production volume by 2040. More than half of the lithium currently comes from mines in Australia, a third from salt lakes in Argentina and Chile, and China supplies 14,000 tonnes.
Lithium is not a rare element. According to the US Geological Survey, experts estimate the known reservoir at 80 million tonnes. 50 million of it are stored in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. The European reserves are put at 4.7 million tonnes in this study.
Germany has so far tried to achieve security of supply through a joint venture with a southern German company in Bolivia. The South American country wants to establish an annual production of 40,000 tonnes of lithium. The then Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) signed a corresponding declaration of intent in 2018. But after the change of government in Bolivia, apparently only four Chinese, one US and one Russian company are now in the race.
In South America, lithium is often not extracted by mining; here, water containing lithium salts is pumped to the surface, where it evaporates. The remaining lithium salts then only have to be processed; Germany has the technology for this. Lithium is not traded as a metal, but predominantly as lithium carbonate or hydroxide.
Regardless of whether lithium is extracted in mines or salt pans: Globally, European companies play no role in the extraction of this raw material. Europe is dependent on the producers and the mining countries. This should change. Lithium is one of the raw materials for which there is the political will to end dependency within the framework of the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA).
Scientists have discovered several large lithium deposits: Not only in the Ore Mountains, but also in Cornwall in the UK, in Spain, Portugal, Serbia and Finland, mining could be worthwhile. However, lithium miners are not popular everywhere. Because unlike coal, for example, the lithium content in the rocks is often low. What is extracted from the mines must first be ground, then enriched and finally chemically processed. This is not only expensive. Processing produces up to ten times as much overburden as lithium ore, and it can also pollute the environment.
Lithium from thermal water
Europe's largest source of lithium could be underground water deposits: the deep waters of the Upper Rhine Trench, a 300-kilometre-long lowland plain between Frankfurt and Basel. There are several geothermal power plants there, where warm water is drawn from the depths and pumped back into the depths after releasing heat. Up to two billion litres of thermal water flow through the pipes there every year.
Scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) soon want not only to extract heat from water, but also to separate the lithium. To do this, they are using ion screens in their first plant, which are supposed to absorb up to 70 per cent of the lithium as the water flows past them before it is returned to the depths. This method is particularly environmentally friendly compared to other types of lithium extraction. According to KIT analyses, the lithium content of these thermal waters is up to 180 milligrams per litre.
The company Vulcan Energy is therefore pursuing the same goal in the Upper Rhine trench. According to its own information, it already has contracts with car manufacturers who want to use the domestic lithium for their battery production.
Alternative recycling?
The path to independence from foreign producers could also lead via the recycling of batteries. However, the German Raw Materials Agency has so far expressed scepticism about this: "Most existing recycling plants for lithium-ion batteries focus mainly on the recovery of cobalt, nickel and copper and not on the recovery of lithium," the experts write. The raw material cobalt is by far the most valuable metal in lithium-ion batteries and thus responsible for the profitability in recycling, they continue.
How quickly these concepts can deliver lithium will also depend on the political will of the stakeholders. The window of opportunity for Europe to start making the necessary investments is getting smaller and smaller, according to an open letter from industry representatives to EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton. The question of whether the price of European lithium is competitive with the world market price has not yet been clarified. In many mining countries, the mining companies only have to comply with low environmental regulations and can therefore produce at low costs.
(jle)
