Imerys Secures €50 Million in State Funding for EMILI Lithium Project
Imerys announces that Banque des Territoires, acting on behalf of the French State, will acquire a minority stake in the EMILI project. The transaction is expected to be finalized in the coming months.
Banque des Territoires is acting as the operator for the "critical metals" component of the France 2030 plan. This move marks a key milestone in the ongoing development of this lithium project, which is considered to be of major national interest and is recognized as strategic at the European level.
The State's investment, amounting to €50 million, aims to support EMILI in completing its definitive feasibility study, a major milestone expected in early 2027. This level of study is required before any final investment decision can be made regarding the future lithium production site located in Allier.
"The State's entry into EMILI's capital represents significant recognition of the industrial and strategic potential of our project. This partnership gives us the means to realize our ambitions for 2026 and strengthens our commitment to becoming a key player in the French and European energy transition," said Alessandro Dazza, CEO of Imerys.
Imerys also believes it is necessary to establish a minimum European local content requirement to structure a viable and sustainable lithium sector: 20% by 2030 and 40% by 2036. According to the group, all European lithium stakeholders have jointly submitted this request to the President of the European Commission.
As a world leader in mineral specialties for the industry, Imerys offers high-added-value business solutions for a wide range of sectors, from process industries to consumer goods or construction products. The group actively mobilizes its knowledge of applications, technological expertise and materials science know how to provide high-end solutions that value its mineral resources, develop formulations or produce synthetic minerals. All these actions bring about essential properties to its customers' products and their performance such as refractoriness, toughness, conductivity, opacity, durability, purity, lightness, filtration, absorption, or hydrophobicity. Imerys is strongly committed to responsible developmentin particular, to contribute to the development of environmentally friendly products and processes. The activity is organized around 2 areas:
- Performance Minerals: the segment brings together three geographical business areas - Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), America and Asia/Pacific (APAC). This segment encompasses functional additives that give unique properties to the products they compose. It serves the plastics, rubber, paint and coatings, filtration, ceramic materials, renewable energy, paper and cardboard, food, health and cosmetic industries;
- Materials and High Temperature Solutions: the segment, managed globally, brings together two business areas - High Temperature Solutions and Refractories, Abrasives & Construction. This segment facilitates production processes involving high temperatures. It serves the refractory, foundry, metals, abrasives and building chemicals markets.
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