Soaring demand for lithium and its price has led to numerous companies in Europe scrambling to mine lithium mines
U.S. media said that the market demand for lithium and its price surge, coupled with China's strict control of supply, have revived interest in mining lithium deposits in Europe.
The price of lithium, which is used to make everything from cell phone batteries to Tesla car batteries, has more than doubled in the past two years, reaching as high as $21,000 a ton at one point, according to the Wall Street Journal website. Analysts expect the lithium-ion battery market to exceed $90 billion by 2025.
While European companies use 25 percent of the world's lithium, a group of Chinese companies has gained potential control of mines in Australia and South America that produce nearly all the world's lithium for batteries. This has led to a small group of pioneers racing to reopen European mines.
Currently, the best places to produce lithium are Germany and the Czech Republic. Companies that have successfully mined and produced lithium in the two countries hope to sell it to the numerous automakers across Central Europe. In places like the UK, Portugal and Sweden, companies are drilling holes and mapping underground lithium mines in 3D.
Cornish Lithium geologists are using satellite imagery to search for lithium-rich rock formations and vegetation patterns, and even poring over the yellowing diaries of long-dead miners, looking for anything that suggests where lithium may be hiding, the report said. Mine clues. Cornish Lithium is a start-up looking for lithium deposits in Cornwall, England.
"This is a fascinating moment in mining history," said Richard Shaw, a geologist at the British Geological Survey.
The need for the continent to secure its own lithium reserves has become increasingly urgent as European carmakers begin mass-producing electric vehicles.
Lithium is easy to find, but only rich rock formations or brines produce enough lithium metal to make mining profitable. Martin Bertow, a professor of mining and geology at the Freiberg University of Technology in Germany, said that if enough rich deposits were found, Europe could supply lithium for around $4,000 a ton. This is in line with production costs in Australia and is well below the previous peak of $21,000.
