Finance could come in part from existing sources such as the European Union-funded COMPETE programme, the group said in its report.
The report also calls for the creation of an experimental mining and metallurgical unit with the aim of developing know-how and testing technologies for the whole value chain relating to lithium which is expected to enjoy an “exponential” increase in demand as the number of electric vehicles grow worldwide.
In addition, the group calls for the creation of an industrial pilot unit to demonstrate the economic viability of lithium processing, beyond mere prospection and mining.
According to the report, this experimental unit should be supported by a team of experts, drawing on the National Laboratory of Energy and Geology, universities and companies, through the Cluster Portugal Mineral Resources association.
The 27 March report stresses that in the past two years, market prices for lithium have risen sharply, and that there are forecasts of an “exponential increase in electric cars” that would push up demand for lithium worldwide. So it “can be expected that the prospection ... of this mineral resource, as well as its mining and processing will undergo a sharp increase, namely in countries with recognised lithium resources, as is the case with Portugal.”
Last year, Portugal’s Directorate-General of Energy and Geology received 30 formal requests for the rights to prospect and mine lithium in the country, relating to proposed investments of some €3.8 million - a clear indication of the growing interest of foreign investors in the metal.
At present, lithium mined in Portugal goes exclusively to the ceramics industry, where it is used as a flux in furnaces.