The Plat’inn experimental platform enables pilot-scale mineral processing, hydrometallurgical and biohydrometallurgical operations to be carried out. The BRGM team in charge of the LITHOS project began using it in June 2025 to process 3 tonnes of spodumene ore.
© BRGM
La traThe transition to cleaner, renewable energies means that the demand for certain critical elements, notably lithium, is constantly growing. Consequently, achieving self-sufficiency in the production of this light, white metal – which is essentially used in batteries – has become a major strategic objective for Europe, especially since large quantities of lithium-rich ores can be found in the subsurface of several EU countries. However, exploiting these minerals involves a whole processing chain, which does not yet exist in Europe.
The LITHOS project was therefore set up to address this situation. The project's main aim is to exploit the full potential of Europe's lithium deposits in order to achieve self-sufficiency by 2035, while ensuring that sustainable and responsible ore-treatment, hydro-metallurgy and refining processes are put in place, notably in terms of water consumption and CO2 emissions.
3 tonnes of spodumene ore
"One of the key challenges the mining industry must deal with is the fact that there can be several different types of lithium-bearing minerals in deposits," explains Kathy Bru, a researcher specialising in ore and waste processing at BRGM. "Although most of the lithium produced from hard rock comes from spodumene, there are other ores found in Europe that could also be a potential source of lithium-bearing minerals, such as lepidolite and petalite. One of the aims of the European LITHOS project is to adapt the innovative process developed for extracting lithium from spodumene concentrates so as to be able to process concentrates containing other types of lithium-bearing minerals."
This is precisely where BRGM's expertise and technical capabilities come into play, and notably its experimental Plat'inn platform. The test facility was used to process three tonnes of spodumene ore in order to produce a concentrate. The other project partners will now be able to use this concentrate to test different innovative lithium extraction methods.
Chiffres clés
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Production of8.80million tonnes of lithium
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90.00%less water consumed compared to current production methods.
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50.00%less CO2 emissions compared with current production methods.
Crushed pegmatite rock containing spodumene ore.
© BRGM
Flotation to remove micas.
© BRGM
Examination of ore samples.
© BRGM
Analyses to establish advanced sample characterisation.
© BRGM
Near real-time monitoring
Several teams at BRGM contributed to this large-scale operation, which was carried out over a number of days. "First, the ore needs to be crushed, then ground down more finely," explains Maxime Boucheron, a technician at the Plat'inn facility. "Several processing stages are then carried out to separate the various minerals, magnetically and then by flotation, before concentrating the spodumene-bearing minerals."
Throughout the experiment, the materials were carefully sampled in order to accurately assess the mineral content. Moreover, the use of combined analysis equipment (LuxREM), developed by BRGM for the purposes of previous European projects, enabled the efficiency of the processing to be monitored virtually in real time.
To find out more
BRGM mag no.2: How can we save our soils?
© BRGM
BRGM mag no.2: How can we save our soils?
The second issue of BRGM mag continues to pursue the magazine's ambition: to share knowledge, enlighten and engage in dialogue and to make the Earth sciences accessible to as many people as possible. For beneath our feet lie some of the solutions for meeting today's environmental, energy and sovereignty challenges.
Soils play an essential role for the economy, the environment and society: they support biodiversity, regulate the climate, filter pollutants and store carbon and water. However, these functions are now being degraded by multiple pressures, through artificialization, pollution, erosion and loss of organic matter.
Studying soils, particularly urban and industrial soils, or phenomena such as erosion and pollution, is one of BRGM's missions. The main article in the second issue of BRGM mag is devoted to this major subject.
