The mining company Ensorcia Group announced in Davos (Switzerland) the construction of a lithium treatment plant in Europe for the manufacture of batteries, with an initial investment of 200 million euros and with participation between Europe and South America.
The announcement was made by the president of Ensorcia Group, Daniel Layton, at the World Economic Forum where he reported that the subsidiary Sorcia Europe has been created to manage the project and various possible locations for the treatment plant are being studied, with France at the forefront .
Layton, who has participated in the ‘Leaders with Purpose’ round table, has advocated for “sustainable development”, with public and private participation between Europe and South America, especially France and Chile , according to a company statement.
“It is urgent that effective and serious cooperation emerge quickly to facilitate the production and export of lithium ,” with the goal of meeting the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2035.
The plant will be dedicated to the transformation of lithium , a mineral with which the essential batteries for electric vehicles will be manufactured , and will have an initial investment of 200 million euros (US$216 million), and the creation of more than one hundred jobs.
According to the company, the plant should begin operations in 2025 , with an installed capacity of 20,000 tons of lithium carbon equivalent (LCE) per year.
Current extraction techniques are extremely polluting, energy consuming and harmful to ecosystems, both for brines and spodumene.
The main world reserves of this ” white gold ” are found in the triangle between Argentina, Chile and Bolivia .
However, despite the strong market demand and new “environmentally friendly” technologies, such as the systems used by Ensorcia Group, according to the company, “regulations evolve slowly and continue to be a brake on production and export.”
According to Ensorcia Group, ” Chile could benefit annually from more than $2 billion in additional taxes and royalties over the next few years , for every one hundred thousand tons of battery-grade lithium , fully benefiting from high lithium prices before they fall.”
France, for its part, is willing to create a “green” automotive sector and defends its ambitions in terms of sovereignty and energy independence, but to do so it depends on lithium production .
Layton has pointed out that “the impact of climate change concerns us all and it is up to us all together to find solutions”, giving priority to climate challenges.
Ensorcia Group has its main operations in Argentina and Chile , and is studying several projects for the creation of different lithium processing plants in South America, Europe and the United States.