In Allier, a lithium mine project raises questions and opposition

The project, which would be the first mine of this mineral in France, worries some residents, concerned about the impact on the environment.

On the site of the Beauvoir kaolin quarry, in Échassières, in Allier, the white rock is dazzling. If the project is validated, this is where the first lithium mine in France, a metal used in electric vehicle batteries, must be dug. It is an essential element for replacing diesel or gasoline cars and therefore for the energy transition. But this project raises questions and opposition. A public debate has just opened and is due to last until the beginning of July.

The site will be operated by the global giant Imerys, which plans to extract 34,000 tonnes of lithium per year, from 2028. Enough to manufacture the batteries for 700,000 electric cars each year. Enough, also, to ensure the independence of France in this transition, to avoid imports from Australia, South America and China and to respect “French and European standards on water consumption, on the management of mining residues, on the use of chemicalsexplains Alan Parte, vice-president of Lithium projects at Imerys.

But in this area with a strong mining past, residents fear the artificialization of the soil, the consequences on the neighboring forest or pollution of the massif’s sources.

Beyond these local questions, there are two visions of ecology which oppose each other, with on one side, the promise of Imerys of a mine “responsible” and necessary to replace thermal vehicles and on the other, the opponents who denounce the very model of the transition, to run large electric cars. “It’s a project which is absolutely symptomatic of what we must not do because all these new cars, we will have to build them, we will need more metals, more steel, more glass, more plastic, more IT”, notes Thierry, member of the Preservons la forêt des Colettes association. His association is against mines in Echassières, and everywhere else.