Turkey top envoy goes to Niger in bid to secure uranium supplies
The trip comes after Niger’s military government withdrew mining rights from Canadian and French companies to develop uranium deposits.
Eramet and Electricite de Strasbourg (ES) have launched another test phase for lithium extraction from geothermal waters in eastern France as they look to develop production of the battery mineral later this decade, they said on Tuesday.
After obtaining lithium during exploration in recent years, the partners will run the pilot for at least six months at ES’s Rittershoffen power plant near Germany to see if Eramet’s direct extraction technology for lithium works consistently in local geothermal conditions, the companies said in a statement.
Eramet and ES see potential to produce 10,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate annually – enough to supply around 250,000 electric vehicle batteries – by the end of the decade. They are due to take a final investment decision by the end of 2026.
Eramet developed its lithium extraction process for the Centenario deposit in Argentina, where it plans to start producing lithium in the second quarter of next year in a joint venture with Chinese steel group Tsingshan.
Geothermal waters in the Rhine Valley along the French-German border have attracted investments both for renewable energy and potential lithium resources, as Europe tries to secure access to battery minerals.
(By Gus Trompiz; Editing by Milla Nissi)
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