Will lithium, gallium and germanium mines open in Belgium and Europe to reduce our dependence on China?

Eric Berard reminds us that Belgium has no lithium deposits. On the other hand, Europe is not lacking in potential. Lithium is found in salt lakes as brine or in rocks. This specialist insists: “These are two very different types of exploitation. Regarding the exploitation of brines. The idea that has been conveyed is that they consume a lot of water. In fact, brine is water with a high salt content. It simply evaporates to recover the lithium, we do not consume water, On the contrary, we purify the water.”

According to this expert, there will be no major pollution problems associated with the exploitation of lithium, unlike, for example, the exploitation of copper.

If there are already large deposits of lithium in Europe: in Portugal, Spain, Serbia, Great Britain and Finland. The deposit is also in Germany. This deposit is called Vulcan, and it makes it possible to combine geothermal energy with ore extraction. Eric Berard explains: “We will be looking for super-hot water about two kilometers underground. By going up this water, we have the heat and at the same time, we can extract lithium from this super-hot water. Vulcan has already signed up with most of the major European car manufacturers.”

Large lithium deposits are also found in Serbia. It was the subject of many initial explorations until its exploitation was finally rejected by the Serbian government.

Once again, mineral exploitation in Europe faces the influence of Nimbe more than ever (not in my backyard).