Raw Material for Electromobility

The growing market for electric vehicles, in particular, is driving up demand for batteries – and consequently for lithium. In just a few years’ time, large quantities of this sought-after alkali metal could be coming from Zinnwald in the German Eastern Ore Mountains. Starting in 2030, Zinnwald Lithium GmbH aims to supply the battery industry with 18,000 to 35,100 tons of lithium hydroxide each year, with ore extraction reaching 1.5 to 3.0 million tons per year. The company places its trust in Fichtner’s expertise when it comes to planning the related civil engineering structures, surface infrastructure, and site development works. The planning incorporates both our decades of experience in mining and our know-how in relation to the latest technologies.

Influenced by the growing demand for electricity storage, particularly due to the expansion of electromobility, the production volume of lithium-ion batteries is increasing. This also affects the demand for the alkali metal ‘lithium’ and its reaction product ‘lithium hydroxide’ (LiOH). As a result, new lithium deposits are being sought worldwide and known deposits – such as those in Zinnwald in the Eastern Ore Mountains – are being reassessed.

The fact that lithium and lithium mica are found in the Zinnwald district of the town of Altenberg has been known for over a hundred years. However, the focus used to be on extracting tin and tungsten. When the mining operations were no longer economically viable, this German mine was closed in the middle of the last century.

Third Largest Lithium Deposit in the EU

A reassessment of the Zinnwald region with regard to its lithium deposits has revealed some astonishing findings. In 2022 and 2023, Zinnwald Lithium GmbH explored the Zinnwald ore body by drilling 84 boreholes. The drill bits used for this penetrated about 300 meters below the Earth’s surface. Subsequent evaluations revealed that large quantities of lithium mica are located beneath the tin-rich layers of rock. At approximately 429,000 tons of lithium, it is currently the third largest deposit in the European Union. This quantity will enable economically viable mining in Zinnwald for around 45 years, with ore extraction of three million tons per year.

New Mine Beneath the Old One

To tap into the lithium-rich ore deposits that lie deeper than the historic, heritage-protected mine, a new mine needs to be built. External factors must be taken into account when planning this project. These include the surrounding villages and the needs of their residents, the landscape which is attractive to tourists and includes protected areas, and the nature conservation and environmental protection issues.

Large Areas Required for Processing

Processing up to around 9,000 tons of ore rock per day requires surface facilities and processing plants covering an area of approximately 35 hectares (ha). These extensive facilities pose a challenge not only in terms of selecting a site for processing the ore rock and producing lithium hydroxide and by-products, but also in terms of planning the mine access and the extraction. In addition, a mine waste dump will be required, which will occupy an area of up to around 70 ha. To minimize the impact on the landscape, the decision-makers opted for an area about ten kilometers away from the mine near Liebenau. That area was large enough and had already been designated for industrial use.

Comparison of Options for Transporting the Ore Rock

The long distance between the mine and the processing plant raised the question of how the ore rock could best be transported over ten kilometers. The Fichtner team helped answer this question by comparing two transport options. Option one is an underground conveyor belt for the first few kilometers, followed by an above-ground conveyor belt system for the rest of the way. Option two is an underground conveyor belt from the mine to the processing plant. The second solution is more capital-intensive, but has the advantage of being completely underground, thus significantly reducing the impact on the extensive landscape conservation area. This addresses the concerns of the local population, among other things, and could make the permitting process considerably easier.

Pre-Feasibility Study

Our tasks so far have included preliminary design of the above-ground facilities and infrastructure, as well as development planning. The aim was to conduct a preliminary assessment of the project’s feasibility and to provide an initial cost estimate. This involved investigating whether all the infrastructure required for the mine and the processing facility could be accommodated on the site and made logistically accessible.

The extraction and processing of the ore rock and the production of lithium hydroxide and by-products require a lot of energy, water, and additives. Added to this is the logistics of goods and material flows as well as the planning of new roads to and within the plant, via which employees will get to work and products will leave the plant.

The Challenge of Development Planning

One of the biggest challenges of the project lies in developing the main site in Liebenau, which is located in a rural area. The local infrastructure is currently not designed to meet the requirements of an industrial operation of this scale. Planning adequate water supply and disposal, as well as electricity and gas supply, is therefore crucial. This includes setting up new power lines, providing for treatment of sanitary wastewater and industrial wastewater, and ensuring a reliable water supply.

Process water consumption is to be fed entirely from collected rainwater and the mine’s water management system. A closed cooling and process water circuit is also planned to further reduce water consumption. Water management encompasses all measures that prevent water from entering the mine.

Not only the water is to be reused, but also the heat energy contained, among other things, in the cooling water return flow. The recovery of process waste heat is intended to reduce the primary energy requirement of the entire plant, thereby improving both the cost-effectiveness and the ecological footprint of the project – with all of these important aspects being planned by Fichtner with great care and expertise.

Fichtner’s Teamwork Benefits the Client Greatly

Due to the many interfaces involved in such a complex project, subprojects cannot be viewed and planned in isolation. Experts from the fields of mining & environment, water supply and sanitation, road and traffic planning, building construction as well as process, energy and civil engineering therefore work together on the planning and are coordinated by the project management team in the Mining and Raw Materials department at Fichtner Water & Transportation.

“Cross-departmental planning is second nature to us.
We share responsibility.”

This close and coordinated cooperation within the company offers additional benefits to clients such as Zinnwald Lithium GmbH. The planning all comes from a single source, clients do not need to coordinate individual specialist companies but increase their planning certainty because Fichtner’s departments coordinate directly with each other, and the number of interfaces is reduced.

June 2025

Project website: Project | Zinnwald Lithium