France's Imerys announced plans on Monday to become the leading supplier of lithium in Europe through a mining project in central France as a push to make electric vehicles widely available spurs a "white gold" rush for the mineral.
Imerys said results of surveys carried out at its Beauvoir mine in the Allier department in central France allow it to produce 34,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide for at least 25 years from 2028 to supply around 700,000 electric cars.