final decision on refinery only in 2023. Portugal can import ore from Australia, Brazil and Canada – O Jornal Económico
Galp and the Swedes of Northvolt today announced the ‘Aurora’ project: a €700 million lithium refinery located in Portugal that could start operating in 2026.
“We are now committed to spending tens of millions of euros on engineering work. We will only make the final investment decision when we evaluate the management contracts and financing. We can then evaluate all of this, together with the cost of the project, then a decision will be made in the second half of 2023”, according to Andy Brown.
Northvolt is a Swedish company that manufactures batteries for electric cars and will keep 50% of the lithium that is refined in this plant. The two companies own equal parts (50% each) of this project.
This plant will have an annual production capacity of up to 35 million tons of lithium hydroxide, used in the production of lithium-ion batteries for electric cars. The refinery should go into production in 2026, with the forecast of creating 1,500 direct and indirect jobs. An infrastructure will have a capacity to produce enough lithium hydroxide to produce 50 GWh of batteries per year, enough to power 700,000 electric vehicles.
The two companies say that the location of the refinery has not yet been closed. “We will evaluate all the choices, the carbon footprint of each location will be an important parameter in the assessment”, said Andy Brown today when asked if it would make more sense to install the lithium refinery in Matosinhos, on the site of the former Galp refinery, as as lithium deposits in Portugal are mainly in the north of the country.
In turn, the Government pointed out that it would make more sense to install a refinery in northern Portugal. “It seems to make more sense to the north than to the south, since although this project also has to import lithium in order to work fully, naturally the north seems better located than the south, and the more inland , best. But this is a question that investors will know how to answer”, highlighted João Pedro Matos Fernandes.
The minister was answering a question from journalists on whether it would make more sense to install the lithium refinery in the municipality of Matosinhos (district of Porto), not the site of the former Galp refinery in Leça da Palmeira, or in the oil refinery in Sines, district of Setúbal .
The executive president of Northvolt, Paolo Cerruti, pointed out that the lithium that will be produced in Portugal will not be enough to supply as a refinery need. In this sense, he pointed out that ore can be imported from Australia, Brazil or Canada to fill a demand.
“The Savannah mine can provide a large portion, but it’s not good practice to have just one source. Let’s look at alternative sources to ensure there is enough volume. Savannah is one of the options”, said, in turn, the leader of Galp.
The Environment minister today rejected putting forward a date for the launch of the Lithium PPP, which foresees a survey in eight areas covering eight districts, in a total area of three thousand square meters (km2), an area greater than the Lisbon district (2,761 km2) or from Porto (2,395 km2) or from Aveiro (2,808 km2). Guarda is the district most covered in this plan with three areas, followed by Castelo Branco and Viseu, both with two areas.