Mining firm Keliber has begun lithium mining in Kaustinen, western Finland, as Europe's first battery-grade lithium processing operation starts up in the Kokkola area.
The long-planned project will create approximately 350 jobs, and offers Europe’s only production chain of its kind.
On Wednesday, invited guests and reporters witnessed a historic event in bitterly cold weather as the first spodumene veins were blasted out of the rock at the Syväjärvi open pit mine in Kaustinen.
These boulders will eventually produce Europe's first battery-grade lithium.
The mining area sprawls across three municipalities: Kaustinen, Kokkola and Kronoby, with the Syväjärvi quarry located within Kokkola city limits.
"This is a celebration," said CEO Hannu Hautala. Keliber was established 25 years ago, following the discovery of the deposit by a local farmer more than 60 years ago.
Lithium-ion batteries are used in mobile phones, electric toothbrushes, EVs, buses and rail transport backup power systems. In future, it is expected to be used increasingly for large industrial energy storage systems.
A lack of funding threatened to derail the project several times. It was finally secured in late 2022 with an investment by the South African firm Sibanye-Stillwater.
However the price of lithium has plunged since then. When Sibanye-Stillwater invested, the price was 10 times higher than last summer’s low. It has since rebounded somewhat, but remains below the five-year average.
However, Hautala insists that production will now be profitable.
Sibanye-Stillwater owns 80 percent of Keliber. The remaining 20 percent is held by the Finnish Minerals Group, which is wholly owned by the Finnish state.
Closer than China
Keliber's in-house production chain is unique in Europe. Portugal has large lithium reserves but no refining, so it sells lithium as raw ore and concentrate.
Serbia also has lithium deposits, but in November mining giant Rio Tinto put that project on hold.
There are currently factories using lithium hydroxide in Germany, Poland and Hungary, and another is under construction in Kotka, southeast Finland.
"We’ll be the first to introduce European production, and of course it is a competitive advantage due to the shorter delivery distance compared to imports from China," said Hautala.
Once the boulders removed from Syväjärvi have been crushed, they are transported a couple of kilometres away to the Päiväneva enrichment plant. From there, the concentrate is transported by truck to a plant in Kokkola, where it is refined into lithium hydroxide for sale to battery manufacturers.
The construction of the quarry, concentrator and chemical plant, as well as the start of production, will cost approximately 800 million euros.
The Päiväneva concentrator will begin operations this spring, followed by the Kokkola chemical plant towards the end of the year.
In addition to the Syväjärvi open pit mine, Keliber plans to open six other mining areas in the Kaustinen, Kokkola and Kronoby areas.
The main mining areas of Syväjärvi and Rapasaari alone are estimated to have enough resources to last for 18 years – and the company is still actively prospecting for new deposits.
