Yesterday was a special one for the team at Vulcan Energy Resources, after years of intense hard work, including 10,000s of hours of pilot plant operation, as well as engineering and construction.
It was also a special day for Europe, Germany and France, and their close relationship with Australia. Together, this collaboration of cultures and technologies has produced Europe’s first fully domestic lithium production plant, our 40m EUR Lithium Extraction Optimisation Plant (LEOP), which we formally opened yesterday.
Instead of importing critical raw materials for Battery Electric Vehicles from overseas, at high cost to the environment and geopolitical supply chain vulnerability, LEOP produces lithium salts from the deep brine resource right under our feet in the Upper Rhine Valley. The by-product from this process? Renewable heat for our local communities.
We were honoured to be joined by political leaders from the region and from the permitting authorities, and were grateful for the very strong words of support. We were also thankful to be joined by our strategic partners, including Stellantis, Umicore and Volkswagen, and many other distinguished guests.
It is a privilege to have the opportunity to physically build a new lithium supply for Europe for electric vehicles, to have a meaningful, generational effect on supply chain independence, and to be able to do it with world-leading environmental standards. It is also a massive privilege to do this with amazing, talented people at Vulcan Energy Resources, who work incredibly hard every day, and who are so passionate at what they do.
Under the excellent leadership of our highly capable MD-CEO Cris M., the next six-seven months will be transformational for Vulcan, as we complete the financing for Phase One of the ZERO CARBON LITHIUM™ Project, and start building our full-sized commercial plant. This will supply enough lithium hydroxide for 500,000 electric vehicles per annum, an amazing feat!
Here’s to the next chapter for decarbonising lithium. Onwards!
Source: Vulcan Energy Resources