Not Gunna Be Enough Lithium, page-1488

Government doing utmost to start lithium mining - Fiala

Sept 20 (CTK) - The government will have a representative in the working group on lithium mining, which is doing everything possible to ensure that mining can start, Prime Minister Petr Fiala (Civic Democratic Party, ODS) said.Fiala met representatives of the municipalities affected by the mining in Kostany before a cabinet meeting.Fiala considers cooperation between the investor and the local government to be crucial. He sees the mining of lithium, which is used to produce car batteries, as a strategic raw material and essential for the restart of the Czech Republic. The planned mining raises local concerns about the deterioration of the quality of life, the impact on the landscape and the impact on groundwater.According to Fiala, the aim of today's meeting was to set up a model of communication so that the region and municipalities would have sufficient information. "That is why there will be a government representative in the working group," Fiala said. It was the lack of information about the plan that the mayors criticised.Deep lithium mining is being prepared by Geomet, a company in which Severoceske doly (North Bohemia Mines), a member of the CEZ group, owns a majority stake. The planned annual production is 1.7 to 2.3 million tonnes of ore, which will be used to produce about 25,000 tonnes of the form of lithium required by the customer, which, depending on the technology and battery size, is equivalent to about 400,000 to 800,000 electric cars. The total investment in mining is around 14 billion crowns.The initial crushing of the ore will take place below the surface. The crushed ore will be transported to the processing plant by a cable car or conveyor belt, the unprocessed part will be transported by trains to the tip in Tusimice and the unusable part will go back to the mine. Geomet has acquired land in the Dukla industrial park in Ujezdecek near Teplice, on which it intends to build a lithium processing plant.There are 22 houses within a few metres of the site and another 22 are under construction. Ujezdecek plans to build another 77 houses in the area. "We want to know how this particular site was chosen. We want clear data," said Kostany Mayor Tomas Svada.People are worried that the noise and dust from the factory will go towards their homes. "It was only this June that we learned that Geomet had concluded a purchase agreement for Dukla, which was intended for photovoltaics and light manufacturing," said Svada.According to Fiala, all participants in the debate clearly expressed the opinion that they realise the importance of lithium mining and do not want to block the project. "What they want is for us to set the conditions and rules and the whole project in a way that takes into account the interests of the residents, citizens and the whole region.Mining and processing of lithium will bring up to 2,000 jobs, according to Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela (Mayors and Independents, STAN). Although the Usti nad Labem region has the highest unemployment rate in the country, companies cannot find workers here either.According to Sikela, the majority of these are skilled positions. The prime minister said the project was a chance to bring high value-added production to the region. Sikela said the state will compensate for the reduction in comfort the project will cause in the affected communities. The total investment in mining is around 14 billion crowns.In connection with lithium mining, the construction of a gigafactory, i.e. a factory for batteries for electric vehicles, is also being considered. CEZ is negotiating with potential investors about the gigafactory project on the site of the Prunerov I lignite power plant, which is currently being demolished. Fiala sees the advantage of the project in a complete chain from mining to processing to the production of car batteries to the production of electric cars.