The mining empire owned by billionaire Gina Rinehart is contributing to the funding of a lithium project in Germany, which is currently being developed to provide the main component for electric vehicle batteries needed by the European automotive industry.
Rinehart's company, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, will become a key investor in the institutional share sale by Vulcan Energy Resources Limited, amounting to $92 million, with the proceeds intended to enhance the project's development. Vulcan hopes to increase its stake in Sydney, Australia, by more than three times this year, by capitalizing on the rising demand for lithium in Europe, which is trying to build a domestic battery manufacturing industry to reduce reliance on Asian suppliers. It is noteworthy that the preliminary study conducted by the company on its lithium resources near Offenbach estimated a value of $3.4 billion before taxes. Vulcan claimed that it could produce lithium for batteries without carbon dioxide emissions, by extracting lithium using a geothermal power plant in southern Germany.
