PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed critical minerals developer Vulcan Energy has been granted a new geothermal and lithium brine exploration licence covering a region of Frankfurt am Main.

The Luftbrücke licence includes a number of large industrial areas including the Höchst Chemical Park, and Frankfurt Airport, which are all heavy energy consumers requiring large quantities of renewable energy and heating solutions.

The licence is proximal to Vulcan’s Central Lithium Plant (CLP) development, at the Höchst Chemical Park, providing further opportunities for cheaper energy and decarbonisation as Vulcan aims to grow its lithium chemicals production in a phased, stepwise manner, the company said on Thursday.

“This new licence signifies a major future phase opportunity for Vulcan as a dual lithium and geothermal energy producer,” said MD and CEO Cris Moreno.

“We have a strong presence already in the region as we progress towards commissioning of our Central Lithium Electrolysis Optimisation Plant located in Höchst Chemical Park, which will also be the location of our CLP for our Phase 1 commercial operations. We look forward to growing our relationship with the Frankfurt region and its stakeholders to support their energy transition to meet their carbon neutral goals by 2035.”

Vulcan has invested in a joint research well in the region together with the City of Frankfurt, the Hessian Ministry of Economics, the Landes Energie Agentur Hessen GmbH, the state geological survey, the Bäder Betriebe Frankfurt GmbH, Mainova AG, the Leibniz Institute of Applied Geophysics and GLU Freiberg GmbH to test the heat and lithium concentrations.

The well has been drilled, and brine sampling and analysis work is under way.

Vulcan is also assessing whether the high lithium concentrations in the Buntsandstein brine reservoir extend into the “Rotliegend” brine reservoir to the north under Luftbrücke.