EN 
DE 
From Luisa Zenker
Freiberg. A visit by the Chancellor to a Freiberg office just before the state elections? Olaf Scholz (SPD) has scheduled a strange appointment for Friday morning - just before the final election campaign appearance in Chemnitz. It is therefore quiet in Kirchgasse, where the Saxon Mining Authority is located. Only the police cars are a reminder of the high-ranking visitor.
According to the Saxon Ministry of Economic Affairs, the request for the date came explicitly from the Chancellor. The reason for this is none other than a special raw material that is found here in the Ore Mountains: Lithium. The metal is crucial for the transport revolution. It is used to produce lithium-ion batteries for electric cars and e-bikes, as well as cell phones and laptops.
Saxon lithium for more than 800,000 e-cars from 2030
At the moment, lithium comes exclusively from overseas. Yet the second largest deposit in Europe is located in the heart of the Ore Mountains. Back in July, the Federal Chancellor signed a pact with Serbia for lithium extraction. Now he is coming to Saxony. The company "Zinnwald Lithium GmbH" wants to mine the metal around Altenberg from 2030 at the latest. The deposit would be sufficient for more than 800,000 electric cars.
"It's a major project, a Europe-wide lighthouse project," says Chief Mining Inspector Professor Bernhard Cramer. There has not been a mining project on this scale for decades. The challenge: the site is located in one of the most densely populated areas in Central Europe. Opposing citizens' initiatives have already formed. Among other things, they criticize the impact on the environment, despite the fact that the Ore Mountains attract tourists with centuries-old mining traditions.
Environmental concerns, raw material safety and 400 jobs
This challenge is possibly one reason why the Chancellor has declared the undertaking a "top priority project". "We need the whole of Europe to be prepared to do something like this. After all, this is not just an issue for us; there are raw materials in many parts of Europe that we can recover and that we urgently need at any time," said Scholz in Freiberg. However, this requires a willingness to extract the raw materials and not just do it overseas.
The managing director of the mining company, Marko Uhlig, would like to see more political statements like this so that mining is accepted in the region. The project has already received indirect support from the European Union, which passed a European law on critical raw materials a few months ago. The goal: 10 percent of the raw materials in the supply chains must be produced in the EU. "We can't just look at the world and believe that others will solve our problems. We are responsible ourselves. We want to become more independent," explains Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Dulig (SPD).
The mining company based in Altenberg has applied to the EU as a strategic project. If they receive approval, they will be allowed to move into the fast lane. The approval process must then be completed within 27 months, something that normally takes up to five years or longer. Entrepreneur Uhlig wants to start the approval process in 2025.
The mining authority needs new staff for this. The company has also submitted an application for financial support from the federal government. Investments of more than 500 million euros are planned. At least 400 jobs are to be created, and the company expects three times as many indirectly through suppliers. A processing plant in Bärenstein and Liebenau is currently being examined in order to process the raw lithium. The company also wants to extract the metal on the Czech side.
