The French Government has designated the planned lithium mine in the Allier department in central France as a project of “great national importance.” This project has been entrusted to the French company Imerys. The Échassièresproject in Allier, a €1 billion investment, would be the first mine opened in France in nearly 50 years. According to Imerys, the mine would enable lithium production starting in 2028, sufficient to fill 700,000 batteries annually for at least 25 years, as reported by Le Monde.
The decision to declare the lithium mine in Allier a project of great national importance was announced by the government in Paris in the official gazette on July 7. This special status, introduced by the Green Industry Act passed in October 2023, allows industrial projects deemed significant for national sovereignty and ecological transition to benefit from acceleration measures or administrative exemptions to facilitate their development.
As reported by the French newspaper, the Imerys “Emili” project for lithium extraction is part of France’s policy aimed at building a new national sector for strategic minerals and metals to reduce dependence on imports, primarily from China. According to the plan, lithium extraction and processing will be located in Échassières, in an underground mine within the Beauvoir quarry complex, where Imerys has been exploiting kaolinite for ceramics since 2005. Storage will be handled in Saint-Bonnet-de-Rochefort, approximately 15 kilometers away, and the processing plant will be in Montluçon, 49 kilometers away. Lithium transportation will be conducted underground or by train.
Imerys plans to create 500-600 jobs and indirectly employ another thousand workers. The project, first announced in 2022, is supported by the French state and government, as well as the leading political parties in the country, including the opposition, with the exception of Unsubmissive France, which criticizes it mainly because the excavation work has been entrusted to a private company. The public debate on the lithium mine in France lasted from March to July 31, with its results to be published by the National Public Debate Commission in October, as reported by Tanjug.
