Booming electric car sales drive lithium rush in Portugal - lithium ion batteries for sale
Portugal (AFP )-
Thanks to the popularity of lithium-powered electric vehicles, mining companies are racing to open new lithium mines in Portugal, which is already the largest producer of lithium in Europe. ion batteries.
"The more we drill, the more we find, David Archer stands at the foot of the drilling crane, passing through the granite mountains near Boticas in northern Portugal, measuring its lithium content, he said.
Since demand for batteries began to grow, the metal has become a precious "Platinum ".
Archer's British mining company Savannah Resources is expected to open "Europe's most important lithium mine" in remote Terra heights in 2020 "--os-
The poorest and poorest country in Portugalknown region.
The company announced on Monday that the lithium resources of its Mina do Barroso project are 44% higher than previously estimated.
Portugal's Lusorecursos company also claims to own Europe's "most important lithium mine", just 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the town of montalger ", the company is expected to start in 2020, according to its chief financial officer Ricardo pinneiro.
"The battery industry broke out and created a real interest in lithium," said Lucas bednaski, general manager of the market research site lithium. -
New generation battery-
Demand for lithium, Silver
White metal already used to make lithium-
With the increasing popularity of electric vehicles, ion batteries used in mobile phones and laptops are becoming popular, and electric vehicles need powerful batteries.
"To be honest, I think lithium may be the new gold for Portugal," the European Commission vice president said . "
President Maros Sefcovic, who is in charge of the EU's executive energy policy.
"The reason is that we expect that by 2025, Europe will have a battery market worth 250 billion euros ($290 billion) a year.
"For nearly a year, Sefcovic has been working on a project to build a new generation of" green "recyclable and reusable batteries in the EU.
The first step needs to reduce the group's dependence on imported battery components.
Lithium imports from the EU account for 86% of its consumption, mainly from Chile and Australia.
Portugal is already a major producer of lithium in Europe, with a market share of 11%, but its production is entirely used to make ceramics and glassware.
"It is well known that Portugal has the most important reserves in Europe," said berdenaski of lithium today, adding that, the key step will be to figure out if mining is "economically viable in a highly competitive global market ".
He is estimated to be 2.
The lithium extracted from the Portuguese granite is 5 times more expensive than the lithium extracted from the Chilean salt field. -
"White gold "-
"There is a gold rush all over the world.
For continental Europe, the birthplace of the German and French automotive industries, the concept of the European supply chain from minerals to electric vehicles is attractive, "said Howard Klein, New York investment consultantBased on RK equity.
The boom has begun in Portugal.
Projects in Boticas and Montalegre are expected to be approved by investors and authorities in the coming months.
Jorge Seguro Sanches, Portuguese State Secretary for Energy, told AFP that the government will launch a tender for lithium exploration rights on more than a dozen other websites in response to "the huge interest of investors ".
He added that since more than 40 requests for permission to find lithium have been received in 2016 Portugal.
But the government doesn't just want to charge royalties for lithium mining.
Sanches said it also hopes to "seize the opportunity to develop industrial sectors related to mineral transformation, battery production, the automotive industry and renewable energy ".
Savannah Resources wants to produce a lithium-rich mineral concentrate in Portugal for export.
Monorecursos's project at Montalegre is more ambitious as it hopes to build a plant that can transform lithium before selling it to battery manufacturers.