Oceana Lithium disclosed its plans to make a millionaire contribution in Ceará. The investment aims to focus on mining lithium, a mineral that is very present in the region.

The Australian mining company, Oceana Lithium, is making investments of 6 million Australian dollars around R$ 22 million in a project for the extraction of lithium in Solonópole, in the central hinterland of Ceará. The amount was raised after the IPO held on the Australian stock exchange. The licenses obtained by the company cover historic artisanal lithium mining sites previously mined for lithium, niobium, tantalum and tin.

Lithium mining is essential for the energy transition

As Oceana Lithium reports, more than 20 historic small-scale mines have been found in exploration of the field in Ceará. A lithium mining it was only made at less than 10 meters of vertical depth due to the restrictions of hard pegmatitic material that demands detonation. Research will also indicate whether there will be economic viability for exploiting the ore.

According to the former director of National Mining Agency (ANM) and member of the OAB Mining Law Commission, Tomás de Paula Pessoa, the Ceará region has a very high incidence of lithium.

The material is essential in this period of energy transition, which has an expanding global demand for batteries, especially with the greater presence of the battery industry. electric vehicles. According to Tomás, a major challenge in the commercial extraction of the material is the separation of other ores present, but which are not of interest to the market.

Investment in Ceará will change the lives of residents, generating jobs and income

There are already projects focused on lithium in the country, with emphasis on the activities of Sigma Lithium, in Minas Gerais. Oceana Lithium has another mining venture in Australia called the Napperby Lithium Project.

According to Ana Vládia Nogueira, mayor of the Municipality of Ceará, Solonópole is a city that makes possible a large concentration of stones, minerals and metals such as clay, tantalite, beryl, fluorite and amblygonite, and even tested, around 30 or 40 years ago, the mining activity, done by hand by small groups at the time. 

As mentioned by the mayor, for a municipality whose economy is based on livestock and agriculture, the estimate of investments in a new activity, such as lithium mining, would be a great opportunity, capable of generating much more investment, jobs and income for residents of the region, in addition to greater economic and social development for the population.

Lithium increases by 900% in just 2 years

Lithium is not a special or rare material, but its production is somewhat complex, being a real problem when a large part of the vehicle industry wants to be electrified. The price rose to absurd levels a few years ago and the estimate is that it will not fall in the future.

According to studies by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the increase in the price of lithium has been 900% since January 2020. According to data obtained by the market, in just over two years the value of the product has expanded due to greater demand for electric cars in the world market , where sales continue to grow each month.

The Chinese government has forced companies to stop mining due to the low production of electricity that has been generated in recent months. Benchmark points out that the case will not change in the short term, and could affect the future of electric cars. According to data, the demand for lithium batteries will still increase by 36%, but the production of the material will still expand by 33%.