Announced on 29 January, Imerys has selected two key sites in the Allier region in France for its lithium extraction and conversion project called EMILI. The Beauvoir site in Échassières will be developed as a lithium mine, while the La Loue site in Saint-Victor will house a conversion plant.
The La Loue conversion plant targets at producing 34,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide for battery manufacturing annually from 2028. Before that, Imerys plans to build a pilot plant with an annual production capacity of hundreds of tonnes in 2025.
In the UK, Imerys has partnered up with British Lithium, claiming to develop a lithium project with the objective of building a plant capable of producing over 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year, which currently stays at the pre-feasibility study (PFS) stage.
Both projects show determinations to be responsible lithium producers who can “meets the most stringent environmental norms and practices”. This ambitious target imposes additional pressure on the development timelines, rendering the company susceptible to many evolving factors.

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