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Artikel

GeoTHERM 2022 Abstractband No1

Lithium in the Buntsandstein reservoir of the Upper Rhine Graben - potential and mining

  • Thomas Aicher
  • Tobias Hochschild
  • Horst Kreuter
  • Markus Ruff
  • Thorsten Weimann
Submitted
November 15, 2021
Published
2022-03-03

Abstract

It has been known for more than 40 years that there is a considerable lithium concentration in the thermal water in the deep reservoirs of the Upper Rhine Graben. With the boom in lithium-ion batteries, demand is increasing for the raw material, which can be extracted locally and CO2-free in the center of Europe and the growing battery industry.

In connection with the development of several permit areas of Vulcan, the lithium potential was assessed in several regions of the Upper Rhine Graben, which together had a total extent of about 500km2. Several concepts were tested and applied. The concepts are evaluated with respect to their application and informative value. The results of the evaluation and the potential estimation of the lithium content will be presented in the lecture and compared with the contents of lithium deposits developed elsewhere in Europe.