West of the province of Salamanca, near the border of Spain with Portugal, a finding that the Berkeley Australian company He has cataloged “very encouraging”. Significant amounts of lithium, essential for the manufacture of batteries, and rubidium, a scarce and strategic metal.
The news. The Berkeley Energy mining group has found important concentrations of lithium and rubidium in a site in the province of Salamanca. These explorations are part of the Conchas project, which covers an area of 31 kilometers covered by sediments of the Cenozoic in the Ciudad Rodrigo region. The announcement, cataloged as “very encouraging” by the company, has fired its price 21% In the Australian bag.
Why it is important. Lithium is the gold of the 21st century: an essential metal for the manufacture of batteries that has gone from feeding our electronic devices to boost electric vehicles and energy storage from renewable sources, so its demand is still increasing.
But rubidium, in particular, is a metal of enormous strategic value. Because it is scarce and the time critical for sectors such as defense, medicine, telecommunications, Quantum computing and renewable energies. It is in atomic watches (GPS, missile guidance), photoelectric cells (night vision systems, Perosvkita solar panels), tomographies, ionic propulsion, data transmission … and its production is dominated by China.
Now what. Berkeley has identified thick and shallow areas of lithium and rubidium, which facilitates its possible extraction, but not everything is said. The company will expand the polls and test the samples extracted to evaluate its metallurgical potential, a key step when determining the economic viability of the project. The results of these tests are expected to know this same quarter to define the following steps.
It is not the only project. The Essential Metals Limited Australian company (Australia is one of the leading countries in lithium extraction) found high grade lithium to Villasrubias, a town in Salamanca that historically dedicated itself to tin extraction.
“Perhaps it is the region, not only of Spain, but of Europe, which has the greatest number of critical raw materials identified, and that are listed by the European Union, due to their economic importance for the development of green energy and for the risk of dependence on third countries “, A project spokesman said.
The environmental impact. Known for claiming one billion dollars in damages to the Spanish government after this prohibit the research and use of uraniumBerkeley has the support of the markets in the face of the discovery of lithium and rubidium, but will have to detail the environmental impact of its extraction if the project will continue.
The extraction of lithium, in addition to altering the landscape, requires large amounts of water and can release heavy metals and acids in the soil. It would not be the first time that a project is filed for the risk for neighboring peoples, as has happened Until twice in Ávila Duela denunciation of environmental associations.
Image | Bybyk (CC BY-CC 4.0), DNN87 (CC BY 3.0)