Havlíček: Czechia to discuss possible cooperation with Koreans on lithium mining at Cínovec

Czechia will discuss possible cooperation with Koreans on the mining and processing of lithium at Cínovec. Options include a potential joint project between Czech company Geomet and South Korean company Posco, which processes lithium. Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček (ANO) said this at a press conference today. Under current plans, lithium mining could begin in 2030.

According to Havlíček, the possibility of cooperation on lithium mining and processing was one of the topics of today’s meeting with his South Korean counterpart Kim Chung-kwan. “I expressed the Czech government’s interest and support for the preparation of a possible joint project by Geomet and Posco. The companies are already cooperating, and we are therefore seeking further mutual synergies,” Havlíček said.

Geomet plans to mine lithium at Cínovec. The company is majority-owned by Severočeské doly, a member of the ČEZ Group, while the remaining 49 percent is held by Australian holding company EMH. The company intends to extract lithium-bearing ore through underground mining. The extracted material will be transported by train to Prunéřov. It will be loaded in the Dukla industrial zone in the Teplice region, where it will be delivered from Cínovec by conveyor belt.

According to a recently published feasibility study, there are no technological obstacles to lithium mining at Cínovec in the Ore Mountains and to the processing plant in Prunéřov in the Chomutov region. According to ČEZ, the study confirmed that 3,2 million tonnes of ore can be mined annually at Cínovec, producing approximately 37.000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate for up to 1,3 million electric vehicles. Total investment is estimated at more than CZK 42 billion, which would rank it among the three largest industrial investments in Czechia in recent years. It would create thousands of jobs in a region with high unemployment.

Councillors in the Ústí Region today approved, on their second attempt, the designation of a corridor for lithium mining in the Ore Mountains. The processing plant is to be located in Prunéřov in the Chomutov region.

The European Commission previously included lithium mining among strategic projects under the Critical Raw Materials Act. The Czech government also designated Cínovec as a deposit of strategic importance last March. Lithium is considered a metal of the future and will be crucial, for example, for the automotive industry. Estimates indicate that Czechia holds around three percent of global reserves, with most of them at Cínovec and a small amount in the Slavkov Forest. The Cínovec deposit is the largest in Europe.

The planned mining project, which has been discussed for years, continues to provoke considerable controversy in northern Czechia. Following residents’ opposition to plans to build the processing plant directly in the Ore Mountains, Geomet changed the location to the site of the former Prunéřov lignite mine.