JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Finnish mining company Keliber has submitted the environmental and water permit application for its proposed Syväjärvi lithium mine.

The permit application to the Regional State Administrative Agency of Inner and Western Finland includes the ore and waste rock mining, stockpiling the waste rock, construction of the areas needed for the mining operations and the closure and reclamation of the mine area at the end of the operation.

The company would also apply for a permit for the drainage of lakes Syväjärvi and Heinäjärvi during the mining operation.

Keliber would mine up to 540 000 t of spodumene ore from Syväjärvi each year. The mined ore would be hauled for further processing at the company's Kalavesi concentrator in Kaustinen. In Kalavesi, the ore would be crushed, milled and floated to spodumene concentrate, which, in turn, would be transported to the company's chemical plant in Kokkola Industrial Park, where the battery grade lithium carbonate would be produced.

The company would lodge separate environmental permit applications for the Kalavesi concentrator and the Kokkola chemical plant.

"Our lithium project has reached the important permit application stage. We have been conducting environmental surveys for several years and assessed the impact of our operations on both nature and local residents and communities. Based on the conducted surveys and assessments, we submitted an environmental impact assessment report for the mine sites of the lithium province of the Central Ostrobothnia to ELY Center earlier in the Spring. We are currently following the prior consultation process. This process has been an important part of the preparation of the Syväjärvi permit application,” said Keliber CEO Pertti Lamberg.

Keliber forms part of a raw material suppliers cooperation network, aimed at establishing a battery industry in Finland.