Milestone for Rinehart's lithium play in auto heartland

A "pit to battery" lithium and renewable energy project backed by Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart is conquering carbon in the industrial heartland of Europe.

ASX-listed Vulcan Energy Resources on Monday announced the successful production of battery-quality lithium, confirming the first fully integrated production in Europe of sustainable lithium chemicals from a local resource.

Vulcan is pushing to become the world's first "zero-carbon lithium" producer by using geothermal energy to make the chemicals from the region's largest lithium resource, located in the Upper Rhine Valley of Germany.

With the lending arm of the European Union as a backer, a project dubbed "Lionheart" is targeting production of 24,000 tonnes per annum of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) which Vulcan says is enough for approximately 500,000 EVs.

The European Investment Bank is one of the largest climate finance providers globally, with the EU aiming to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by more than half by 2030 and have no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

But advancing the green mobility transition also requires a reduction in European automakers' dependence on China for supplies.

"This is a major milestone for Vulcan and demonstrates the final step in establishing a first fully domestic and integrated supply chain in Europe producing battery grade LHM from a local resource," chief executive Cris Moreno said.

Vulcan plans to supply key auto and battery makers in the European supply chain, with a commercial plant set to be constructed in the same industrial park as the company's optimisation plant.

Shares in Vulcan, which has escaped the slump suffered by other lithium plays in the past year, rallied 4.7 per cent or 28 cents to $6.21 by 12.30pm AEDT in a weak overall market.

Ms Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd joined the Vulcan register as a substantial shareholder in 2021.

Unlike Australia's hard-rock lithium resources, the Upper Rhine Valley project is harnessing geothermal heat to produce lithium from sub-surface brines and to power the conversion to battery grade material.