Energy dependence: Emmanuel Macron bets on French lithium – Eco data | EUROtoday

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By inaugurating the Échassières mine on Wednesday April 22, Emmanuel Macron just isn’t solely supporting an industrial mission: he’s staging a French response to new dependencies. Because behind the rise of electrical automobiles, revived by the oil disaster, there’s a metallic that has turn into strategic: lithium.

Led by Imerys, the EMILI mission plans an underground mine 400 meters deep, producing 34,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per yr. Enough to equip round 700,000 electrical automobiles every year, twice the gross sales of 100% electrical fashions in France final yr.

The whole funding reached 1.8 billion euros, with assist from the French State and the European Investment Bank.

A strategic, however contested, mine

However, manufacturing just isn’t anticipated earlier than 2030, after a number of delays. Brussels considers the location strategic inside the framework of its Critical Raw Materials Act, meant to scale back European dependence, significantly on China.

But on the bottom, the mission arouses sturdy native opposition round water, the surroundings and nuisances.

The file subsequently poses a really political query: how far is Europe ready to go to safe its industrial autonomy? This can also be the place Macron desires to maneuver ahead, by promising sooner procedures for tasks deemed strategic.