Next Tuesday, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) will once again visit Freiberg. Accompanied by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, he will visit the Saxon Mining Authority, as announced by deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann. The meeting will focus on sustainable lithium extraction. There will also be bilateral talks between Scholz and Vucic.
At the end of August, Scholz had already visited the Saxon Mining Authority to find out about the planned lithium mining project near Altenberg in the Ore Mountains. At the time, he described it as a project of the highest priority. Zinnwald Lithium GmbH plans to produce 15,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide annually by mining the raw material. This would cover the annual demand for one million batteries for average-sized electric cars. Investments of more than 500 million euros and at least 400 new jobs are planned.
EU lithium deal with Serbia
The EU agreed a lithium deal with Serbia in July. Together with EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, Scholz signed a declaration of intent in Belgrade, which is intended to enable environmentally friendly extraction of the highly sought-after light metal in the Jadar Valley. Europe's largest lithium deposit is located there. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the planned mining in Belgrade.
Lithium is considered a key raw material for the production of batteries and other high-tech products. The ore metal can be found in the batteries of electric cars. In Europe alone, the demand for electric cars is expected to increase 35-fold by 2050.
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