If it sees the light, this project will be one of the largest mining projects in mainland France for more than fifty years. The National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP) presented, on Monday, September 30, the summary of its work related to the lithium mine project in Allier, supported by the Imerys group. Called Emili (for “exploitation of lithiniferous mica”) and with an estimated investment of one billion euros for the French industrialist, this program was the subject of a public debate that lasted five months and ended at the end of July, marked by strong citizen participation. – more than 3,000 participants in twelve public meetings – but also due to tensions on the part of his opponents.
In detail, Emili is divided into three entities: the Echassières lithium extraction and transformation center, in an underground mine where Imerys has already extracted kaolin since 2005; the storage location, in the town of Saint-Bonnet-de-Rochefort, about fifteen kilometers away; and the conversion plant for refining, in Montluçon, 49 kilometers away. The transportation of ore from one site to another would be done underground or by train.
Imerys promises, ultimately, between 500 and 600 direct jobs, and a thousand indirect jobs, in a department that is suffering demographically and economically. The company plans to produce, starting in 2028, 34,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year, which would make it possible to equip 700,000 electric vehicle batteries. The Bourbonnais mine would then be an important link in French policy aimed at building a national sector of strategic minerals and metals, in order to be less dependent on imports, particularly from China.
Differences of opinion
The public debate raised local concerns related to environmental risks (waste management, water use, risk of subsoil contamination, impact on biodiversity) and socioeconomic risks (real impacts in terms of employment, territorial planning, distribution of mining revenues for the selected municipalities). ).
But beyond Emili’s case, the debates highlighted above all the differences of opinion among the population regarding the ecological and energy transition as a whole. “For a part of the public, the urgency of a transition justifies changing our consumption towards more sustainable mobility, and the production of French lithium is then perceived as an industrial opportunity to decarbonize transport”writes the CNDP in its report.
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