Copper, cobalt, lithium and zinc: the hunt for raw materials in Italy
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From copper to cobalt, to continue with lead, zinc and lithium up to clays. In Italy the race to find raw materials starts again. Either due to the changes in the international scenarios or due to the need for certified and sustainable supply chains, but the number of requests for concessions to evaluate possible reactivations of dormant mines is growing.
Copper in Emilia Romagna
Last in order of time is the project carried out by the Australian Altamin to search for copper in Corchia in Emilia Romagna. In this territory, the Australian company has requested and obtained permission for an exploration program which “includes the evaluation of historical data, geological mapping, sampling and geophysics”.
Three years of research
The exploration license, as the company writes in the official communication, “grants the right to explore copper, cobalt and associated metals”. The licence, which concerns the mining site which develops underground and was considered one of the most important for the cultivation of copper until the 1940s, has a duration until 2026 and can be renewed. An “important” site, especially in the past and from which, in the words of Geraint Harris, MD of Altamin, in the official note, “modern economic and low environmental impact exploration techniques” could generate “valuable results”.
Cobalt and Lithium
The same company also carries out other projects in other regions of Italy. This is the project relating to the search for cobalt in Usseglio in Piedmont for which a program is envisaged which aims to evaluate the site which operated until 1750 when they worked for the extraction of cobalt which was then exported to Germany and used as a pigment . Also ongoing are projects for the identification and possible use of the lithium present in upper Lazio by exploiting the geothermal wells dug between the 70s and the 90s by Eni and Enel in search of high pressure water for the production of electricity. A high concentration of lithium emerged precisely from the analysis of those waters on which the Italian-Australian group would now like to play the production card by putting a site that has been closed and abandoned for some time back on track.
From Lombardy to Sardinia
Then there is another chapter that concerns lead and zinc. On the one hand there is a project, also carried out by a subsidiary of the Australian company in Gorno in the province of Bergamo, which aims to reactivate a galena and blende mine (from which lead and zinc are obtained). On the other hand, in Sardinia, there is the Silius mine where the Gerrei mining company aims to put a metal mine back into operation in which it aims to extract, among other things, rare earths.
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