Friday, March 29

The Cañaveral lithium mine increases its exploitation time to 30 years, but delays the start until 2025


Archive image of the surveys carried out at the Las Navas deposit. / TODAY

The investment rises to 340 million and the number of direct jobs to 430, as stated in an update of the project presented to the Board by the company Lithium Iberia

Claudio Mateos

The company Lithium Iberia, which promotes the Las Navas lithium mine, in Cañaveral, has submitted to the Junta de Extremadura an update of the exploitation project in which it responds to a request sent by the regional government in which it was requested some clarifications and corrections to the previous document. The company has also presented the corresponding update of the Restoration Plan and the Environmental Document, with which it ensures that it responds to “each and every one of the determinations contained in the document of environmental scope evacuated at the time by the Junta de Extremadura” .

In the update of the project, Lithium Iberia highlights as main novelties that “there has been a substantial improvement in the benefit plant with the incorporation of an innovative process that implies a greater recovery of the treated ore”, thanks to which the project goes to have an operating life of 30 years instead of the 19 planned until now. The first six would be in the open and the rest underground. This expansion, according to the company, “will directly consolidate the business fabric not only in the area but in the entire region and will imply stable and lasting job creation over time.” However, the forecast to start extracting lithium is delayed until 2025, while until now there had been talk of starting in 2023.

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Employment

Lithium Iberia also updates and increases its investment and employment forecasts. An investment of more than 340 million euros is now expected (until now there were 318) and the creation of more than 430 direct jobs (compared to 400) in the mine and in the ore treatment plant. To all this, we must add the more than 1,200 indirect jobs that, according to the company, the project will generate.

With the presentation of the updated exploitation project, together with the rest of the documentation, the company from Extremadura hopes to obtain the exploitation concession from the Junta de Extremadura before the end of this year. The company is currently already working on detailed engineering and construction projects whose execution is scheduled to take place over a period not exceeding 24 months, with the intention of starting operations at the beginning of 2025.

The expected average production rate will be 1.2m tonnes/year of ore and more than 30,000 tonnes/year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide.

Restoration

The restoration plan presented contemplates the restoration of the land throughout the life of the project in such a way that in year one the first restoration work will begin, in year three the restoration of part of the mining cut will begin open sky and in year eight the permanent dump will be fully restored, as will the temporary deposit. From that date, the work area will be significantly reduced, since the temporary deposit will be eliminated and the cut will be partially restored.

The planned installations will be hidden from the beginning of the exploitation through plant berms and integrated designs in the middle. The restoration designed in the plan will be guaranteed, according to Lithium Iberia, by the company with the presentation of restoration guarantees for the total amount of the same that will ensure the total replacement and improvement of the land at the end of the exploitation.

The project will have a photovoltaic plant that will supply electricity to the entire complex. It will be located in the municipality of Holguera.

Lithium Iberia assures that the project is arousing the interest, among others, of the large automotive companies, as well as auxiliary companies which are in permanent contact with the company and, in some cases, even do not rule out locating part of its production chain in industrial areas close to the deposit.


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