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Vulcan pushes back massive production date for German lithium plant to 2027

Start-up Vulcan Energy will start largescale commercial production of lithium hydroxide in Germany in 2027, two years later than originally prepared, the business said on Friday as it started operations at a demonstration plant.

Vulcan began producing lithium chloride, an important element in producing lithium hydroxide, at its upstream extraction plant in Landau, Germany, in April.

It is currently raising funds for its first massive industrial plant with an objective of providing an anticipated 24,000 lots of lithium hydroxide a year, comparable to 500,000 electrical lorries, from 2027.

The funding procedure has actually taken longer than anticipated, Christian Freitag, the Vulcan CEO responsible for supply chain management, told Reuters.

Vulcan's financial requirements now total up to 1.9 billion euros ($ 2.04 billion), consisting of funding expenses, with the required funds expected to be protected in the first quarter.

The company will raise more than 600 million euros in equity from a handful of investors, Freitag stated, and the staying 1.3 billion euros through loans from banks, including the European development bank EIB, which has actually promised half a billion euros.

Vulcan's production of the battery basic material will assist Germany cut dependence on lithium manufacturers China and South America. The energy it will use to extract lithium from salt water in underground reserves is concurrently produced CO2-free utilizing geothermal power plants.

Lithium demand is forecast to rise later on this decade from development in lithium-ion batteries utilized in electrical lorries.

Vulcan, which is noted both in Australia and Frankfurt, has already sold its first ten years of production through purchase deals with carmakers including Volkswagen, Stellantis and Renault.

The company has already once delayed the start date for large-scale production at its plant by a year to 2026, mentioning supply chain hold-ups.

(source: Reuters)