Under the soil of Madrid lies a strategic resource that Europe desperately needs to reduce its technological dependence on China. To ensure this supply, the regional government has decided to make a move and protect the future of the Tolsadeco mine.
The plan. As they progress in Europe Pressthe Community of Madrid finalizes the procedures to extend until 2037 the mining concession located between the districts of Vicálvaro and San Blas-Canillejas. It is about reactivating an open-air exploitation that has been paralyzed since 2007, with the aim of not losing access to the last reserves of a material critical for the industrial autonomy of the continent.
A simple absorber or the future of the electric car? Although it is traditionally known for its domestic use as an absorbent material—especially in pet litter—sepiolite is today a very high-tech mineral.
According to Europa Press citing the Elcano Royal InstituteSpain is the only European producer of this material, placing it as an extractive singularity of the country. In fact, the processing factory located in Vallecas transforms about 400,000 tons per year out of a global production estimated at 600,000.
The strategic importance. High purity sepiolite is the basis of flame retardant additives essential for the cable, pipe, automotive and construction industries. These components allow Europe to replace antimony oxide, a raw material that is today imported almost exclusively from China. Furthermore, the mineral is the core of the project MADBATa Madrid initiative to develop high-performance electrodes for electric vehicle batteries. The economic impact projected by the concessionaire company, Tolsa, is ambitious: a turnover of 113 million euros, with more than 53 million destined for international export.
The emptying of the water and the promise for 2037. To resume extraction, the first step will be to evacuate the water accumulated during two decades of inactivity. The Ministry of Economy defends this intervention under an argument that transcends the industry: citizen safety. The regional administration emphasizes that it is not a natural lagoon, but rather a deep mining hole with clay soils that, as they warn in their reports, act like “quicksand.”
Despite the fences and signage, the place has become a recurring clandestine bathing point. Tragedy has struck this enclave on several occasions: since 2012, three people have lost their lives due to drowning in these waters, including the death of a minor in June 2021, according to the files of Europa Press. Given this danger, the Community of Madrid promises that, upon completion of exploitation in 2037, the area will be restored through a “safe and planned reconfiguration” that will create new controlled lagoons.
The clash with the neighbors: the destruction of an ecosystem. However, the reactivation plan clashes head-on with neighborhood and environmental opposition. The Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Madrid (FRAVM) and various groups have denounced, in statements spread by Europa Pressthat the work will mean the “destruction of the Laguna Grande.”
The associations deny the official version about the origin of the water, ensuring that it has a phreatic character and is connected to a deep aquifer. In addition, they warn about the impact on biodiversity—especially in breeding colonies of the sapper planea protected bird—and about the proximity of mining activity to homes, sports facilities and educational centers.
For organizations like Ecologistas en Acción and SEO/BirdLife, This extension is a bucket of cold water: postpone sine die the long-awaited project of converting the Ambroz environment into a large “Eastern Country House”, integrated into the Metropolitan Forest. The groups have not been slow to react: they are already preparing allegations and keeping open the possibility of taking legal action.
The price of European autonomy. The Ambroz lagoons conflict perfectly illustrates one of the great industrial and environmental crossroads of the present. On the one hand, the undeniable geopolitical need for Europe to secure strategic materials to lead the energy transition and stop the Asian monopoly. On the other hand, the high ecological cost that this strategy requires at the local level. Madrid has decided to shield its sepiolite mine in favor of the technology industry, but the price to pay will be to empty – at least for the next decade – the oasis that nature had silently claimed in the southeast of the capital.
Image | freepik
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