The largest lithium mine in Spain receives 18 million from the Government and is ready for its start-up
The San José de Valdeflores mine will produce lithium in 2025, if nothing prevents it, and will make Cáceres a strategic place for the European energy transition
San José de Valdeflores mine project
Published: 11/18/23 04:45
Updated: 11/19/23 12:35
In 2030, Europe needs to extract 10% of the lithium it needs for its energy transition in its territory. A percentage that is currently around 0.5%. Cáceres is part of the solution. The city of Extremadura has the largest lithium mine in Spain and the second largest in the Old Continent. A reserve that has been trying to exploit the Australian company Infinity Lithium for eight years and that, finally, feels that the start of production of the San José de Valdeflores project is near.
"We expect the construction of the mine in 2025 and start taking out the first tons of lithium hydroxide in 2027," explains Ramón Jiménez, CEO of Extremadura New Energies, the Spanish subsidiary of Infinity Lithium. This week, the company has received two good news to turn these forecasts into reality. The first has been the granting of a subsidy for the mine of 18.82 million euros within the framework of the PERTE VEC II call.
"It's a boost to the project," Jiménez explains. The 18.8 million represent 1% of the 1.43 billion euros that Infinity Lithium expects to invest, but this support from the Spanish Government has led Infinity's shares to revalue by 41% on the Sydney Stock Exchange. The second good news is that the City Council of Cáceres has certified that the project is not incompatible with the current municipal urban planning.
Searching for a partner
The company wants to share this project with a partner, whether industrial or financial, to be able to finance this 'megastructure'. The company has hired the Australian bank Macquarie to choose the best candidate who wants to buy a minority part of the company to share this investment. "We have received many proposals and the idea is to find a travel companion, who understands the rhythms of a project of this dimension," says the CEO of Extremadura New Energies.
The furor for lithium is marked because it is a key material mainly for electric car batteries. Its current production is concentrated in Australia, Chile and Argentina, its processing is monopolized by China. As the company explains, the ton of lithium has gone from being paid in the market to 1,000 euros eight years ago to the 35,000 euros that is currently paid, with some points where the market has reached 85,000 euros per ton.
Ramón Jiménez, CEO of Extremadura New EnergiesEUROPA
This mine promises a nominal production of about 33,000 tons of lithium hydroxide (LiOH) annually. And that's why there is no shortage of candidates. Ramón Jiménez expects to have all administrative permits by the end of 2024. Infinity Lithium has, for the time being, granted exploration permission. The next step will be to present the demonstration with the technical and economic project with the environmental impact study and the mine dismantling plan. Some procedures that are expected to be presented before the end of this year.
Greater social support for the mine
The increase in the price of a ton of lithium not only attracts the attention of future investors, but has also allowed costs to increase to improve its environmental impact. "It has allowed, for example, that the mine is not open pit but can be extracted closed, use water from the wastewater treatment plant, achieve a new patent for not using natural gas and that there are no fossil fuel emissions in the project," says Ramón Jiménez. The director considers that all these improvements and the increase in information to the population have allowed a greater acceptance of the people of Cáceres.
A social noise against the mine that has not been less in these eight years. The opposition of the people of Cáceres to this project has occurred, mainly, for the defense of its biodiversity, since it is an area of great wealth of flora and fauna, and for the defense of its heritage, for its proximity to the emblematic Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Mountain.
"We have given more information to people so that they can see that the exploitation of the mine does not have this catastrophic impact," says the director of the Spanish subsidiary of Infinity Lithium. "I think we have achieved it, because the survey we did this year reflected that 80% of the respondents are not against the project," he says.
Its development is also supported by the advance of the Critical Raw Materials Law in Brussels. A European regulation that, a priori, will not be necessary for lithium to begin to be produced in Cáceres but that, in case of getting stuck with the local and national administration, becomes a perfect 'plan b' to boost the mine.
