700,000 tons could be extracted.
It's a discovery that would make the whole world pale. France has just discovered a large reserve of a particularly strategic mineral: “white gold”. This major resource is usually imported from Australia, Chile or China. Soon, France will be able to enter this market and join the fight with the main producers. This is good news because this is an element that will become essential in the years to come.
Indeed, this famous “white gold” is best known under its original name, lithium. A name that has become more widely used because it is an essential component of many electronic devices. It is mainly found in smartphone batteries, electric cars, but also in batteries. “It has the characteristic of being able to store electricity much better than all other materials,” explained Didier Julienne, minerals expert, to the Figaro.
It is at Echassières, in the heart of the Allier, a natural lithium reserve, that a quarry will be exploited. A “unique” deposit in Europe, according to the project leaders. The reserves would be colossal: 34,000 tonnes could, on average, be extracted each year, for 25 years. Enough to directly compete with Australia (64,000 tonnes per year) and Chile (39,000), and overtake China (19,000). In total, this would represent 716,000 tonnes over the entire operating life of the mine.
Carried out by the company Imerys, this exploitation is all the more important since from 2035, new vehicles will have to be electric or hybrid to be sold, and therefore contain lithium. According to projections, the French mine would make it possible to equip the equivalent of 700,000 electric cars with batteries each year. An asset for the French industry. Production is expected to start in 2028.
However, the question of environmental impact is raised behind this project. In a press release, the association France Nature Environnement Allier considers that “lithium extraction presents environmental, social and health challenges that are too significant to be ignored.” The collective denounces a need for “phenomenal” quantities of water, while the sector is affected by drought orders, but also waste “leading to water, soil and air pollution because it contains toxic substances that are released.”
If Alan Parte, director of Imerys' two lithium projects in Europe, acknowledged to La Tribune that “there is no such thing as a “clean mine”, in the sense of ” “without impact”, he specifies that the water will be taken “either from the Montluçon wastewater plant, for the conversion plant, or from the Sioule for the extraction mine, which represents on average one thousandth of its average flow, and less than 1% during its most fragile periods.” The ecological and landscape impact studies will not, however, be they will be delivered between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026.