Thibaud Hue 06:18, February 23, 2022
While the needs for lithium, the main components of our telephone batteries and our electric cars, are exploding, France is aiming for the autonomy of its production to reduce the import of this metal.
The Bureau of Geological and Mining Research has been working on this challenge for 15 years and is getting the first answers.
Lithium needs should be critical by 2030. To manufacture batteries for telephones and electric cars, France now imports almost all of this metal, first from Australia and South America. before being processed in China.
However, lithium needs are growing and France is becoming ever more dependent on its imports.
The challenge of a French production is therefore pressing.
Studies are progressing with the hope of autonomy.
>> READ ALSO
- What if the battery of your electric car was (also) used to supply the network?
Lithium in rock and in warm waters
Manufacturing French batteries with French lithium, will this soon be possible?
The first good news is that we find this metal in large quantities in our soil.
"We have lithium resources in hot geothermal waters located in Soultz-sous-Forêts in the Bas-Rhin, but also in rocks in the Massif Central", explains Romain Millot, geochemist for the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research which explores our lithium reserves for more than 15 years.
The lithium contained in the rock stands out as the most prolific resource on our territory.
It is mainly located in granite mined in a quarry located near Limoges, on the first geological foothills of the Massif Central.
In one ton of this rock, 20 to 50 kg of lithium are recoverable.
A sufficient quantity to produce two electric car batteries and which proves the viability of a larger-scale operation.
>> Find the morning of the day in replay and podcast here
The prospect of "hundreds of thousands of jobs"
The only difficulty is the extraction, which is still very complex.
"You have to crush the rock, dissolve it. All this requires research, innovation and validation. All this in compliance with the strictest possible environmental rules", specifies the geochemist.
All these techniques are still in the test phase and to hope to quickly exploit French lithium on an industrial scale in quarries, research must be accelerated.
He adds: "We could be almost self-sufficient, but we will have to be reactive in the years to come. We are talking about several hundred thousand jobs. There are strong economic stakes for France on this subject."
This new market is already attracting the attention of entrepreneurs who are examining the land and applying for exploration permits.
The geochemist is formal: our lithium needs will be multiplied by 30 or even 40 within ten years.