A lithium mine project in Allier recognized as being of “major national interest”

The mining company Imerys aims to produce from 2028 the lithium needed to manufacture batteries for more than 700,000 vehicles for 25 years.

The production of lithium batteries for electric cars is a key element of the energy transition. But in Europe, the precious mineral is largely imported. In order to accelerate the ongoing procedure concerning the establishment of a lithium mine in Echassières, in Allier, this project led by the multinational Imérys has joined the list of “projects of major national interest”, according to a decree published Sunday July 7 in the Official Journal.

Created by the green industry law of October 2023, this new status allows industrial projects of importance for the ecological transition or national sovereignty to benefit from acceleration or administrative exemption measures.

The announcement comes as a public debate launched in March on the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the project, dubbed Emili, is still ongoing. It is due to conclude on July 31, according to the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP).

While thermal vehicles will be banned from sale in the European Union from 2035, Imerys believes that this strategic project, described as “the most important mining project in metropolitan France for more than half a century”would generate 500 direct jobs and 1,000 indirect jobs and would allow France to free itself from its dependence on imports of the precious metal, particularly from China. Imerys aims to produce, from 2028, the lithium needed to manufacture batteries for more than 700,000 vehicles for 25 years.

Local citizens’ associations, fiercely opposed to the project, point out a risk of pollution of water resources, as well as consequences on biodiversity, inherent in any mining activity. In addition to the argument of the transition to all-electric, they defend in particular measures of sobriety and denounced, from the first meeting of the CNDP in March, a written outcome in advance.

In May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said it feared “tensions“on the global supply of minerals and metals essential to the energy transition and encouraged an increase in mining investments so that the planet can limit its warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century.