EU funds critical raw material projects in Namibia to explore lithium processing for electric vehicle batteries
The European Union is funding critical raw material projects in Namibia, including a N$74-million pilot project called ProLith at Andrada's Uis tin mine in the Erongo region. This project, supported by the Finnish geological survey, aims to determine if lithium from petalite, a mineral found at Uis, can be economically extracted for electric vehicle batteries using an alkaline leaching process. Timothy Marais, Andrada's head of exploration, explained that petalite is not currently considered a viable lithium source for batteries due to economic factors. The ProLith project seeks to prove its feasibility, which could enable Europe to produce its own battery materials and allow Namibia to sell processed lithium. If successful, this could increase jobs at the Uis mine by over 10% and potentially lead to more long-term job opportunities with the establishment of a conversion facility. The next phase of the partnership, the CircuMine project, will focus on zero-waste mining by exploring the economic extraction of other critical minerals currently discarded as waste at Uis. Aleksi Salo, chief executive of Mining Finland, highlighted the importance of this collaboration in addressing global mining waste issues by demonstrating that battery materials can be economically beneficiated from existing mining wastes.
