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Albemarle loses more than $1 billion on falling lithium prices

Reuters | November 6, 2024

lbemarle, the world’s largest lithium producer, said on Thursday it lost more than $1 billion in the third quarter and that it would slash its capital budget amid a 71% drop in prices for the electric vehicle battery metal.

The results underscore the supply glut engulfing the entire lithium industry amid oversupply from China and a softening of aggressive EV adoption rates that has dragged down prices for the ultralight metal.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Albemarle is making business decisions on the assumption that lithium prices stay in their current range of roughly $12 to $15 per kilogram for the foreseeable future, CEO Kent Masters told Reuters.

“We do think the price is going to be lower for longer,” Masters said. “We’re positioning the company to compete at that level.”

The company last month announced its second reorganization in as many years, describing the move to shrink its business units as necessary to “adapt to dynamic market conditions.”

The moves – including cutting at least 6% of its staff – are expected to save at least $300 million to $400 million each year moving forward.

The company also cut its 2025 capital budget in half from this year’s levels to a range of $800 million to $900 million.

Masters said the trimmed budget would be used to maintain facilities that operate “at the lower end of the cost curve,” although he declined to name specific sites.
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Vulcan pushes back large-scale production date for German lithium plant to 2027

Reuters | November 8, 2024


Insheim, site of Vulcan’s lithium extraction project in Germany. Credit: Wikipedia

Start-up Vulcan Energy will begin large-scale industrial production of lithium hydroxide in Germany in 2027, two years later than originally planned, the company said on Friday as it started operations at a demonstration plant.

Vulcan started producing lithium chloride, an important component in producing lithium hydroxide, at its upstream extraction plant in Landau, Germany, in April.

It is currently raising funds for its first large-scale industrial plant with an aim of delivering an expected 24,000 tons of lithium hydroxide a year, equivalent to 500,000 electric vehicles, from 2027.

“The financing process has taken longer than expected,” Christian Freitag, the Vulcan CEO responsible for supply chain management, told Reuters.

Vulcan’s financial requirements now amount to 1.9 billion euros ($2.04 billion), including financing costs, with the required funds expected to be secured in the first quarter.

The company will raise more than 600 million euros in equity from a handful of investors, Freitag said, and the remaining 1.3 billion euros via loans from banks, including the European development bank EIB, which has promised half a billion euros.

Vulcan’s production of the battery raw material will help Germany cut dependency on lithium producers China and South America. The energy it will use to extract lithium from brine in underground reserves is simultaneously generated CO2-free using geothermal power plants.

Lithium demand is forecast to surge later this decade from growth in lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles.

Vulcan, which is listed both in Australia and Frankfurt, has already sold its first 10 years of production through purchase deals with carmakers including Volkswagen, Stellantis and Renault.

The company has already once postponed the start date for large-scale production at its plant by a year to 2026, citing supply chain delays.

($1 = 0.9292 euros)

Le Mali obtient aussi 35 % d’intérêts dans son deuxième projet de lithium

Agence Ecofin 04 nov 2024

En mai 2023, le gouvernement malien a signé un accord pour garantir 35 % d’intérêts nationaux dans la première mine de lithium du pays, Goulamina. Selon le code minier adopté en 2023, l’État peut obtenir 30 % d’intérêts dans les projets miniers, ainsi que 5 % pour les investisseurs locaux.

Le gouvernement malien vient d’obtenir l’application du nouveau code minier au projet Bougouni, considéré comme le deuxième projet de lithium du pays. Selon un communiqué publié le 1er novembre par le britannique Kodal Minerals, copropriétaire du projet, l’État et les investisseurs locaux détiendront 35 % d’intérêts dans la future mine.

Il faut souligner que cet accord est une nouvelle victoire pour le gouvernement qui a déjà obtenu plus tôt cette année l’application du code minier de 2023 au projet Goulamina, la future plus grande mine de lithium du Mali. Le code minier révisé l’année dernière porte la participation de l’État d’au plus 20 % précédemment à un maximum de 30 % désormais, dont une participation gratuite de 10 %. Les investisseurs locaux ont aussi la possibilité d’acquérir une participation de 5 %, soit le total de 35 %.

Dans le cas de Bougouni, le prix d’acquisition convenu pour les 25 % d’intérêts supplémentaires à payer par le Mali, s’élève à environ 4,3 millions $. En contrepartie, Kodal Minerals et sa filiale dans le pays, codétenue avec le chinois Hainan Mining, disposent désormais d’un permis minier valable 10 ans et renouvelable autant de fois que nécessaire.

« Le protocole d’accord avec l’État pour le transfert de la licence minière de Bougouni est la dernière étape juridique nécessaire à l’avancement rapide de la construction du projet, dont la production est prévue pour le premier trimestre 2025 », a commenté Bernard Aylward, PDG de Kodal Minerals.

Pour rappel, Hainan Mining a investi l’année dernière plus de 100 millions de dollars dans le projet Bougouni afin d’en être le propriétaire majoritaire. Bougouni peut livrer 125 000 tonnes de concentré de spodumène sur quatre ans (2024-2028). La deuxième phase d’exploitation de la mine devrait permettre de produire 230 000 tonnes de concentré sur la période 2026-2036.

Koch inks first lithium deal backed by recovery-rate promise

Bloomberg News | October 28, 2024


Credit: Standard Lithium Ltd.

Koch Inc. signed a deal with a US lithium venture to provide technology that includes an industry-first guarantee of recovering at least 95% of the metal from salty water using its new extraction methods.


The company’s Koch Technology Solutions unit agreed to license its so-called direct lithium extraction process to a joint venture of Standard Lithium Ltd. and Equinor ASA for use in a planned commercial plant in southwest Arkansas, the firms said Monday in a statement.


The technology strips out lithium directly from brine in a process that promises to be cheaper, faster and cleaner than the traditional lithium extraction methods used in South America, a region with about half of the world’s reserves. Dozens of firms have been working on improved extraction methods collectively known as DLE, though they’ve yet to be proven at a commercial scale.

The Koch agreement includes a performance guarantee — promising a lithium recovery rate that is about double the rate from the common practice of relying on recovering the metal from evaporation ponds. This is the first time a technology provider has stated in a binding agreement that its process is going to work, backing it with a specific number for how much lithium can be recouped from salty water.

Atlas Lithium Receives Key Operational Permit for Neves Project in Brazil

Alberto Cruz October 30, 2024

On October 25, 2024, a panel of twelve representatives from local civil society and government unanimously approved Atlas Lithium’s license application, culminating in the official publication of the permit on October 26, 2024, in the Minas Gerais state gazette. The approval follows a recommendation from the Environmental Foundation of Minas Gerais (FEAM), which had endorsed the project’s technical and environmental merits in September 2024. The license covers all three phases of development—installation, operation, and initial setup—under the comprehensive LI/LP/LO permit modality, the fastest pathway available for licensing in Brazil.

Atlas Lithium now has the green light to assemble and operate its lithium processing facility, which will process ore from the Neves deposit and produce lithium concentrate for sale. The Company’s application process began in September 2023, and this successful outcome reflects the dedication of Atlas Lithium’s team in navigating Brazil’s regulatory landscape.

CEO Marc Fogassa emphasized the significance of the permit: “We are thrilled with today’s announcement, as permitting is widely considered the most critical risk in any mining project. Atlas Lithium’s permit reflects fourteen months of our team’s meticulous work throughout the licensing process and showcases our unwavering commitment to developing an environmentally responsible and sustainable operation in Brazil’s Lithium Valley.” He added that this achievement brings the company closer to its goal of becoming a lithium producer and highlights Brazil’s growing importance in the global lithium supply chain.

Rodrigo Menck, a member of the Board of Directors, echoed Fogassa’s sentiments, pointing out the positive local impact of the Neves Project. “With today’s news and as the Neves Project moves forward, Atlas Lithium will create hundreds of local jobs in the Vale do Jequitinhonha area of Minas Gerais. Additionally, our lithium processing plant is engineered to achieve one of the smallest environmental footprints in its class.”

As Atlas Lithium continues to advance its Neves Project, this permit represents a pivotal step in the company’s broader mission to contribute to the global supply of lithium, a critical mineral in the energy transition.
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Argentina inaugurates first commercial lithium hydroxide production plant
Part of mining company POSCO Argentina’s Sal de Oro integral lithium project, the plant was inaugurated at the General Güemes Industrial Park in the city of Salta. It is estimated to produce 25,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year.

October 30, 2024 Luis Ini


Image: Government of the Province of Salta

Mining group Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO) Argentina has inaugurated the country's first commercial lithium hydroxide production plant at the General Güemes Industrial Park in the province of Salta.

Part of POSCO Argentina's Sal de Oro integral lithium project, the production plant involves an investment “that exceeds $800 million in this phase,” said Salta Province Governor Gustavo Sáenz, who attended the inauguration. The project will also generate more than 3,800 jobs, including over 300 direct positions, and involve “the integration of more than 60 local suppliers, strengthening its commitment to the community and the economic development of the region,” Sáenz added.

The facility is estimated to produce 25,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year. The mineral will be supplied from the Salar del Hombre Muerto mines acquired by POSCO Argentina in 2018. The development of the project began with the start of exploration activities in 2019, followed by the construction of the demonstration plant in 2020. In 2022 construction of the Commercial Plant 1 (CP1) was divided into two parts, the upstream plant in the La Puna region and the downstream plant in General Güemes, the latter now inaugurated. Construction of Commercial Plant 2 (CP2) began in La Puna in 2023.

In this latter region there are 13 of the 15 largest salt flats in the world (approximately 50,000 km²); three of which are located within the province of Salta: one entirely in the territory (Arizaro); a second (the aforementioned Salar del Hombre Muerto), shared with the province of Catamarca, and a third (Salinas Grandes), with the province of Jujuy.

The president of POSCO Argentina, Kwangbok Kim, assured that next year the company would reach a production capacity of 50,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year, and will evaluate the investment of a new project according to the application of the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI) and the global situation of lithium.

Fraunhofer ISE developing lithium extraction processes in Germany
The ThermIon project is intended to take into account the entire process chain from the pretreatment of the brine to lithium extraction and lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide crystallization to the controlled return of the brine. The new process is intended to be both environmentally friendly and economical.

October 31, 2024 Petra Hannen

Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems is working with partners from science and industry to develop and demonstrate an environmentally friendly, economically attractive and innovative technology to extract lithium from thermal water.

Theoretically, existing geothermal power plants in the Upper Rhine Plain and the North German Basin can cover between 2% and 12% of Germany's annual lithium demand — reliably over several decades and at low environmental costs. However, there is still no market-ready technology for lithium extraction from thermal water.

This is where the Fraunhofer ISE's newly launched three-year “ThermIon” project comes in. The ambitious undertaking will take into account the entire process chain from the pretreatment of the brine to lithium extraction and lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide crystallization to the controlled return of the brine.

As Fraunhofer ISE announced on Wednesday, the challenge is to extract lithium selectively from geothermal waters without disturbing their complex geochemical balance and risking the precipitation of other ingredients such as silicates and calcites. This precipitation would involve considerable technical risks for the operation of a geothermal plant. As part of the project, the direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology is to be further developed, as this highly selectively extracts only the lithium from the brine and leaves the other elements untouched.

The particular challenge with DLE technologies is to operate them at high temperatures and very high pressures of up to 30 bar over a longer period of time. The research team is using a lithium-ion pump process, in which lithium ions are stored in a special lithium manganese oxide electrode and released into a recovery solution when the polarity is reversed. This makes it possible to obtain a concentrated lithium chloride solution with high purity.

The team is optimistic that the process will also work on a larger scale and that lithium can be extracted directly from the brine in the future during the operation of a geothermal plant. Because the thermal water is easily comparable with other locations in the Upper Rhine Plain, the results can be transferred to the 13 planned geothermal projects, which can be developed either as pure heat or as electricity and heat projects.

Argentina’s lithium hunters scale back as EV shift slows

Reuters | October 24, 2024

The Argentine salt flats in South America’s “lithium triangle” have been one of the busiest sites for ventures racing to extract the battery metal needed to power the global shift to electric vehicles. Now firms are hitting the brakes.

The global lithium sector from Chile to Zimbabwe is struggling due to prices that have slumped over 80% since the start of last year on oversupply and weaker-than-expected EV demand. That’s gummed up financing and hit profit margins at miners both large and small.

Reuters interviews with nearly a dozen executives, officials and analysts show how severe the situation is in Argentina, and how that is likely to reduce lithium output in the years ahead.

Firms have cut staff, slashed spending and halted exploration projects, and the plunging value of lithium assets has left some firms vulnerable to takeover.
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Volt Lithium produces 99.5% battery-grade lithium carbonate from oilfield brine
Volt's direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology enables efficient lithium extraction from oilfield brine in the Permian Basin.

October 24, 2024

US-based Volt Lithium has produced 99.5% battery-grade lithium carbonate from oilfield brine in the Permian Basin in West Texas, using its DLE technology.

The company has developed DLE technology aimed at extracting lithium from North American oilfield brines, contributing to a secure critical minerals supply chain for the region.

Volt Lithium CEO and president Alex Wylie said: “Successfully producing battery-grade lithium carbonate from the Permian is another significant milestone that Volt has achieved this year.

“Volt Lithium is on track to become one of North America’s first commercial producers of lithium from oilfield brine, contributing to the security of future sources of critical minerals in North America.”

Since 17 September 2024, Volt has been operating its DLE system in the field and continues to enhance the performance of its US field unit.

Volt has been producing lithium chloride concentrate, a precursor to lithium carbonate and other lithium compounds, from its field unit, which enables the company to cost-effectively scale-up further to process commercial levels of oilfield brine.

Third-party testing has validated the samples of lithium carbonate, which are now available for review by potential offtake partners.

The company’s innovative three-stage process of DLE technology has led to the creation of quality eluate, which is converted into 99.5% pure battery-grade lithium carbonate.

In the first stage of the process, Volt employs established techniques to purify the oilfield brine, removing up to 99% of organics and contaminants.

The second stage utilises Volt’s DLE technology to extract lithium, yielding up to 99% lithium extraction rates.

The final stage involves purifying and concentrating the eluate to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate that meets industry specifications.

The company stated that it will continue to produce both lithium chloride concentrates and lithium carbonate in various grades for the rest of 2024.

Eramet reclaims full ownership of lithium operations in Argentina
The company’s Argentinian subsidiary is positioning itself to fully control the Centenario lithium project.

October 25, 2024

French mining company Eramet has acquired Tsingshan Group’s 49.9% stake in Eramine Sudamerica for $699m (€645.83m) to regain full ownership of its Argentinian subsidiary.

Eramet’s Argentinian subsidiary is strategically positioning itself to fully control the development of the Centenario lithium project.

The company has now decided to strategically allocate capital to regain full ownership, enabling it to fully control the ongoing development of the project.

Eramet holds mining concessions in the Centenario and Arizaro salars in Argentina, which are among the largest lithium brine deposits in the ‘Lithium Triangle’.

The total drainable mineral resources of Centenario exceed 15 million tonnes (t) of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), with an average concentration of 407mg per litre of lithium in the brine.

This supports a long-term production capacity currently estimated at more than 75,000t of LCE.

Construction of Centenario’s first lithium carbonate extraction plant began in October 2021.

Inaugurated in July 2024, the new plant has a nameplate capacity of 24,000t of LCE per annum and is poised to be in the first quartile of the industry cost curve.

The facility is highly automated and utilises one of the most advanced direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies, aligning with the highest standards for responsible mining.

Currently in the final stages of commissioning, the plant will begin production in the coming weeks, and this transaction will not affect the project delivery and operational plan.

This transaction represents a counter-cyclical expansion for Eramet, doubling its share of production and providing the company with increased market flexibility and optionality to develop its portfolio of tier-one lithium assets.

Eramet Group chair and CEO Christel Bories said: “Today’s transaction marks a milestone in our development in lithium, a critical metal for energy transition, poised to experience a sustained high growth in demand in the coming years.

“This strategic move enables us to unlock the full potential of our Centenario world-class deposit and comes also at the right time in the context of cyclically low market prices for lithium.

“Taking advantage of the strong liquidity of the Group to execute the transaction, we will soon become the first Western company using a next-generation DLE technology to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate at industrial scale, confirming our technological and sustainable leadership across the entire lithium value chain.”

In July this year, Eramet engaged in talks with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt to establish a partnership for producing battery-grade nickel in Indonesia.

Biden Administration Approves Its First Lithium Mining Project

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Oct 25, 2024

The Biden Administration has granted a final federal permit to a lithium-boron project in Nevada in the first such project approved by the Administration as part of its efforts to support America-produced lithium and reduce dependence on Chinese supply, the project developer said on Friday.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has issued the federal permit for the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, proposed by Australian firm Ioneer Ltd in Esmeralda County, Nevada.

This is also the first lithium mine fully permitted to be built in more than 20 years. Since 2002, only three projects for mining critical minerals have come online in the United States, none of which is on public land.

The Biden Administration is supporting domestic critical minerals development with debt financing via the Energy Loan Programs Office.

Ioneer’s project received last year a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office for up to $700 million of debt financing.

The lithium from the Rhyolite Ridge, where construction is expected to begin in 2025 and first production in 2028, will supply the batteries for more than 370,000 American-made electric vehicles annually. The processing of the crucial battery materials will be made on-site in the United States.

Ioneer has signed separate offtake agreements with Ford Motor Company and PPES (a joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic), and Korea’s EcoPro Innovation.

Earlier this year, Vancouver-based Lithium Americas Corp received a conditional commitment for a $2.26-billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to help it build lithium processing facilities in Nevada.

The U.S. and its allies, including Europe, Canada, and Australia, are cooperating to boost their own critical minerals supply chain to reduce their dependence on Chinese supply.

The U.S. is already backing several mining companies and investment vehicles focused on critical mineral supply and the value chain in America and Australia as it looks to support the provision of key metals from countries other than China.

Cornish Lithium opens UK’s first low-emission, lithium hydroxide demo plant

Posted by Daniel Gleeson on 18th October 2024



Cornish Lithium has opened the UK’s first low-emission, lithium hydroxide Demonstration Plant, marking, it says, a significant milestone in the UK’s transition to clean power by 2030.

The new facility forms part of Cornish Lithium’s Trelavour Hard Rock project in Cornwall, which will reduce the UK’s reliance on carbon-intensive, imported lithium by extracting supplies of this critical mineral domestically in a sustainable manner. From 2027, the project targets production of 10,000 t/y of battery-grade lithium hydroxide. When combined with Cornish Lithium’s geothermal lithium projects, this creates a 2030 planned total of 25,000 t/y of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), meaning that Cornish Lithium alone expects to provide around 25% of all of the lithium needed by UK industry.

This demonstrates the industrial scale of the UK’s lithium potential and reinforces the sector’s call to government to set a domestic national extraction target of 50,000 t/y by 2030.

Trelavour has been designated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project by the UK Government. This is in recognition of the scale of the project and the economic and growth impact it will have on businesses nationwide through the domestic extraction, processing and use of lithium. In Cornwall specifically, it is forecast that Cornish Lithium will contribute a GVA of at least £800 million ($1.04 billion) to the local economy and create over 300 Cornwall-based jobs from 2027 over the life of the project.

The Demonstration Plant takes lithium-enriched granite, mined from a former china clay pit revitalised by Cornish Lithium, and processes it to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide using the Lepidico processing technology. Cornish Lithium has the exclusive right in the St Austell region to use the technology, which is expected to reduce carbon emissions by at least 40% compared to hard rock lithium mining elsewhere in the world.

The new Demonstration Plant has been funded as part of an investment package from a group of leading institutional investors led by the former UK Infrastructure Bank which has now become the National Wealth Fund, alongside The Energy & Minerals Group and TechMet. The hydrometallurgical section of the Demonstration Plant has also been partially funded via a grant from the UK Government via the Automotive Transformation Fund’s Scale up Readiness Validation program.

Jeremy Wrathall, CEO, Interim Chairman and Founder of Cornish Lithium, said: “Lithium is critically important to the manufacturing of electric vehicles, grid scale electricity storage and rechargeable industrial and consumer electronics. By 2030, it is expected that the UK will need circa-110,000 t of lithium carbonate equivalent.

“The UK currently imports 100% of the lithium it uses, yet we’re home to the largest lithium resource in Europe with enough beneath our feet in Cornwall to supply over half of what the electric vehicle industry needs. This is a huge untapped advantage that is currently being wasted, when it could be making our industries more competitive and resilient to global supply chain volatility. At Cornish Lithium, we want to turn that around to provide a stable supply of critical minerals needed for the UK’s new battery industry to kickstart economic growth and make Britain a clean energy superpower.

“The opening of the Demonstration Plant is a landmark moment for Cornish Lithium as this means we can now confirm at a semi-industrial scale the viability of extracting lithium from the mica mineralisation found in Cornwall. Located less than one kilometre from the mine site, we will be able to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide on a single, integrated site, without the need for further carbon-intensive shipping or refining.”

Cornish Lithium’s Trelavour Hard Rock project is just one element of Cornwall’s critical minerals potential. The company is also pioneering the extraction of lithium from geothermal waters that run deep beneath the county’s surface, with the potential by-product of carbon-free heat energy. Cornish Lithium believes that this is a low-impact, highly innovative opportunity that potentially extends across the whole of Cornwall. The company has therefore secured extensive mineral rights agreements across Cornwall in order to maximise this opportunity and develop a major new industry based on the extraction of lithium and geothermal heat energy.

“Domestic lithium extraction is an industrial-scale asset to the UK and our launch of Britain’s first lithium hydroxide Demonstration Plant near St Austell demonstrates that this environmentally responsible modern industry is moving forward,” Jeremy Wrathall concludes.

General Motors to invest $625m in Lithium Americas JV
General Motors (GM) will acquire a 38% stake in Thacker Pass for a total of $625m, with $430m in cash to aid Phase 1 construction.

October 17, 2024

General Motors (GM) Holdings has agreed to form a joint venture (JV) with Lithium Americas for developing the latter’s Thacker Pass lithium project in Humboldt County, Nevada.

Under the agreement, GM will acquire a 38% stake in Thacker Pass for a total of $625m, comprising $430m in cash to support Phase 1 construction and a $195m letter of credit facility.

This facility will act as collateral for reserve account requirements linked to a $2.3bn loan from the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced earlier this year.

The JV transaction supersedes the second tranche of a $330m equity investment commitment from GM, initially announced in January 2023.

This new arrangement builds upon GM’s previous $320m investment in February 2023, which saw the company acquire around 15 million Lithium Americas common shares.

Besides, GM has extended its existing offtake agreement to 20 years, ensuring up to 100% of production from Phase 1 of Thacker Pass, aligning with the expected maturity of the DOE loan.

Lithium Americas will contribute $387m for a 62% ownership in the project and will manage the project on behalf of both parties.

Upon the JV’s closure, GM will also enter a 20-year offtake agreement for up to 38% of Phase 2 production volumes.

It will maintain a right of first offer on the remaining Phase 2 volumes.

A board of directors will be established to oversee the JV, approve budgets and business plans, and implement policies that meet GM’s vendor requirements, including its Human Rights Policy.

The investment by GM is contingent upon meeting certain conditions precedent, including those related to the DOE loan agreement.

Lithium Americas president and CEO Jonathan Evans said: “Our relationship with GM has been significantly strengthened with this joint venture as we continue to pursue a mutual goal to develop a robust domestic lithium supply chain by advancing the development of Thacker Pass.

“Today’s joint venture announcement is a win-win for GM and Lithium Americas. GM’s JV investment demonstrates their continued support and helps us to unlock the previously announced $2.3bn DOE loan.

“We will be working closely with GM to advance towards the final investment decision, which we are targeting by the end of the year.”

In April this year, Lithium Americas announced a $275m public offering for the Thacker Pass lithium project.

Résultats positifs pour les explorations menées en Algérie par le groupe chinois Ganfeng Lithium

Agence Ecofin 05 mai 2024

Les opérations d’exploration ont été menées par des experts miniers de la compagnie minière chinoise Ganfeng Lithium Group, en collaboration avec plusieurs organismes locaux impliqués dans les activités minières.

Le ministère algérien de l'Énergie et des Mines a annoncé dans un communiqué que les résultats de l’exploration préliminaire du minerai de lithium menées dans les wilayas de Tamanrasset et In Guezzam, deux régions désertiques de l’extrême sud du pays, étaient positifs.

Ces opérations d’exploration ont été menées par des experts de la compagnie minière chinoise Ganfeng Lithium Group, ainsi que par des cadres du ministère, de la Société nationale de recherches et d'exploitations minières (SONAREM), de l'Agence nationale des activités minières (ANAM), de l'Office national de recherche géologique et minière (ORGM) et de l'Agence du service géologique de l'Algérie (ASGA), précise même source.

Elles ont permis de « découvrir des indices de présence de plusieurs ressources minérales et de terres rares à l'instar du minerai de lithium, du wolfram, du tungstène, du niobium et du tantale ».

Cité par l’agence de presse officielle APS, le ministre Mohamed Arkab a souligné que l’exploration de ce type de minerais constitue « l'un des axes majeurs de la stratégie de développement du secteur minier » en Algérie, tout en appelant l’équipe algéro-chinoise active dans ce domaine à « poursuivre les efforts pour atteindre des stades avancés et élaborer un plan d'action clair sur la base d'études physico-chimiques de la surface et des échantillons, en vue de lancer et de concrétiser un projet concret d'exploration et de transformation du minerai de lithium ».