PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into the Zero Carbon lithium project, in Germany, has demonstrated the potential for a combined operation producing lithium hydroxide and renewable energy, with a net zero carbon footprint, ASX-listed Vulcan Energy said on Friday.

The scoping study considered the staged development of a brine extraction, power generation, lithium direct extraction plant and brine reinjection that would be co-located.

Stage 1 of the production plant would consist of a direct extraction and lithium plant at an operating, producing geothermal well and power plant, while Stage 2 of the operation would consist of the drilling of ten new geothermal production wells, the construction of a new, combined geothermal, direct lithium extraction and lithium hydroxide plant at Vulcan’s Ortenau licence.

Vulcan MD Francis Wedin told shareholders that the scoping study outlined a plan to produce battery-quality lithium hydroxide from Stage 1, ultimately growing with the market in Europe during a considerably larger Stage 2 operation.

“Over the project life, both stages were found to have a positive outcome. Critically, the project benefits from readily available renewable heat and power to be used in lithium processing, and lack of high cost mining. The smaller Stage 1 provides a sensible first step for the company,” said Wedin.

“We have shown with this scoping study the potential to commercially produce the raw material required for the transition to electric vehicles, with a net zero carbon footprint, while decarbonizing the German energy grid with generation of renewable energy.

“We don’t see commercially and environmental footprint as being mutually exclusive, indeed we see them as being inextricably linked going into the 2020s, which is why we designed our Zero Carbon lithium process from the ground up to be a net zero carbon, minimal impact process.”

The scoping study is based in the mineral resource estimate for the Vulcan project, comprising a combined indicated and inferred mineral resource of 13.95-million tonnes of contained lithium.