Esso Deutschland GmbH receives four permit fields – LBEG approves exploration for lithium
As of January 1, 2025, the State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG) will allocate a total of four permit fields for the exploration of lithium to Esso Deutschland GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil. These are the “Greetsiel IV” permit field in Emden and in the Aurich district, the “Hengstlage” permit field in the Cloppenburg and Oldenburg districts, and the “Hemslingen” and “Wolterdingen” permit fields in the Rotenburg (Wümme) and Heidekreis districts. All permits are initially limited to five years until December 31, 2029.
LBEG President Carsten Mühlenmeier, says :
In order to phase out fossil fuels, we need alternatives,
The head of the authority, says :
Lithium is an important raw material for the production of high-performance batteries, for example to be able to store energy produced from renewable sources. You can see this in electric cars and storage systems for photovoltaic systems,
“And the geological conditions in the North German Basin are good for extracting this raw material in a way that conserves resources and does not use up a lot of land,”
In the future, lithium will be extracted in northern Germany using borehole mining. Similar to deep geothermal energy, liquids are extracted from several thousand meters deep. These contain lithium components, which are separated. The rest of the extracted liquids can be returned to the original underground layers.
Esso Deutschland GmbH has now taken the first step towards lithium extraction with its applications, which it submitted in their final version to the LBEG at the end of August. The authority examined the applications, asked the affected districts of Aurich, Cloppenburg, Heidekreis, Oldenburg, Rotenburg (Wümme) and the independent city of Emden for their opinion and informed all affected cities, collective municipalities and communities. The permits, which cover a total area of just over 1443 square kilometers, have now been granted.
The permit area “Greetsiel IV” extends along the mouth of the Ems from Emden to the outskirts of the city in the north over an area of a good 325 square kilometers, the permit area “Hengstlage” is located on an area of a good 429 square kilometers between Wardenburg and Wildeshausen, the permit area “Hemslingen” extends with a good 453 square kilometers from Rotenburg (Wümme) and Visselhövede to Schneverdingen and the permit area “Wolterdingen” is directly to the east with an area of almost 236 square kilometers that extends as far as Soltau and Bispingen.
The permits initially give the company the basic right to carry out the exploration. Esso Deutschland GmbH is not yet permitted to carry out any specific exploration activities. These are only possible after the approval of operating plans under mining law, which requires, among other things, a separate participation procedure.
Esso Deutschland GmbH plans to extract lithium for commercial purposes. To do this, the company hopes to extract the lithium potential from the so-called deep formation water. The four permits now granted are only part of the overall project for Esso Deutschland GmbH. The company has submitted 19 further applications for exploration permits in Lower Saxony to the LBEG, which will be decided on shortly.
Further information:
A mining permit is the basic right to search for a specific raw material in a defined area. This does not allow the holder to take any technical measures. Further information on mining permits is also available online at https://lbeg.info/?pgId=9&WilmaLogonActionBehavior=Default .
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Esso Deutschland GmbH receives four permit fields – LBEG approves exploration for lithium, source
