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Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
A slice of Alsace well-known for lithium and geothermal reserves. The project will use Eramet’s patented technology to extract lithium and process it into battery-ready lithium carbonate. This technology is already being used by the company in Argentina. Heat from the geothermal reservoirs will be pumped out to provide decarbonised heat to the region, for which the government has a target to reach between four and 5.2 terawatt-hours before 2028. Ageli is strategic to Eramet’s repositioning from being a provider of metals for the steel industry to a dominant European energy transition minerals producer, says project director Ludovic Donati. The company has a goal to produce more than ten kilotonnes (kt) of lithium carbonate per year in five years. This refocus, he says, was in response to the EU’s shift to EVs and its 2035 internal combustion engine phase out, as well as the development of around 170GW of battery-producing gigafactories in northern France, which will require around 100kt of lithium per year. “We believe this is a very good project because it will provide green lithium, thanks to the decarbonised heat available, and be located very near France and other countries’ gigafactories,” adds Donati. Europe has ten gigafactories in operation and 14 in construction. Lithium de France, a subsidiary of French Arverne group, is also developing a lithium brine geothermal project in Alsace. The company has just concluded a prefeasibility study on surface elements of the project and is currently awaiting its first drilling permit to confirm the resource.
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