RE: Geomet13 Apr 2026 06:15
Https://podcasts.apple.com/cz/podcast/papa-talk-pravda-o-lithiu-kejkle-aleny-schillerové/id1757333858?i=1000760222051
Jan Papajanovský's podcast about events in the Ústí nad Labem Region and the Chamber of Deputies. What is the truth about lithium? What did Richard Brabec really manage to negotiate for the Ústí nad Labem Region and what did Karel Havlíček have to say about it?
One of the most important investments planned in our region is lithium mining in Cínovec, which means that a deep mine should be built there, in which ore containing some kind of lithium compound will be mined, with the result that it will then be transported and finally processed in Prunéřov, where a completely new lithium processing plant should be built. And it is a project that the region has actually been preparing for x years. It is not a regional investment, it is an investment by Geomet, which is a company partly owned by ČEZ and partly by an Australian company. And now the plan that the regional leadership supports, so the region is pouring roughly a billion crowns of public money into it as a subsidy, and so the plan has reached the final stage of approval in the regional council. In short, we voted on whether lithium can or cannot be mined from the region's perspective. It is not yet entirely certain that mining will take place, because the process is of course complex, there will be various permits, the environmental impact assessment process is underway, EA, etc. Well, but the region has just approved a change to the so-called principles of territorial development, which, in simple terms, is the regional territorial plan, and that is the only moment when the regional council can say whether lithium should be mined there or not. And it is simply a sovereign decision of the council in its so-called independent competence, when simply, if the region said no, mining would not be carried out 100%. When the region said yes, it means that all the permitting processes, which are then to a certain extent already running independently in the region, will simply go ahead. Well, and the region said yes, well. Sure, I wanted to ask how it actually turned out. Eh, well, I had the feeling that, eh, the coalition that governs the region really cares about it. Hm, is that so? And why is that so? Well, it is so, with the fact that they wanted it a lot, but at the same time they themselves were not completely united.