A small community in the German state of Saxony may soon see the revival of its centuries-old mining tradition. But this time around, the focus is no longer on tin or tungsten but on lithium, as Hardy Graupner reports.
Hans-Andre Tooren is a longtime municipal administrator in the Saxon community of Zinnwald-Georgenfeld near the German-Czech border, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Dresden. His and his wife’s piece of land happens to be in an area that’s attracted the interest of geologists and a mining company.
Tooren lives in a place where lithium abounds, the new white gold of the automotive and other industries. The chemical element is needed for batteries in electric cars, but is also required in steadily rising quantities for glass ceramics, ceramic glass cooktops and a number of lubricants, to name but a few fields of application.
Sitting on a treasure like this, Tooren might have become rich overnight, had he lived in a different country. But here in Germany, mining laws stipulate that all ore deposits found belong to the state and not to the people owning the land above the deposits. Not that Tooren bears a grudge, though.
“Having been a municipal administrator, I’ve dealt with the country’s mining law and knew right from the start that I should not expect to strike it rich as a private person,” he told DW.
For the rest of this article: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-hopes-to-mine-lithium-the-white-gold-of-e-mobility/a-50073822