Rotliegend as a lithium resource in the North German Basin – from exploration to extraction RoLiXX

Lithium is a key raw material for battery production and, consequently, for the energy and transportation transitions. However, despite rapidly rising demand, European and German extraction and processing capacities have so far been negligible. Lithium is therefore considered a strategic and critical raw material.

The RoLiXX project investigates how lithium can be sustainably extracted from deep geothermal waters in the North German Basin. The region exhibits exceptionally high lithium concentrations in the so-called Rotliegend Formation (at depths of up to 5,000 meters), whose geological origin, mobilization, and extraction have been little studied to date. To this end, the project is developing innovative methods for solid-free direct lithium extraction and combining geoscientific analyses with technical experiments.

The IÖW is responsible for the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary sustainability assessment within the project and is investigating the environmental, economic, and societal impacts that lithium mining in Germany would have. A representative public survey in the North German Basin and a focus group in the Altmark region are gathering insights into attitudes, concerns, and needs regarding domestic production. In addition, the IÖW is conducting a life cycle assessment based on experimental data, determining the costs of extraction, and analyzing the value-added and employment effects of a potential domestic lithium value chain. The results will be policy options for policymakers, government agencies, and businesses and are intended to help create the conditions for environmentally friendly, economically viable, and socially sustainable lithium extraction in the North German Basin.