Interesting insight into what some of Czechia’s most deprived former coal mining communities think about a new mining industry which is coming their way: lithium.
Žaneta Jansa Gregorová has coordinated the Ecology programme at the Heinrich Böll Foundation since August 2020. She graduated in Environmental Studies and Journalism from Masaryk University in Brno. After obtaining her master’s degree, she joined the DUHA – Friends of the Earth Czech Republic movement, where she worked as a team leader to develop engagement and communication. She is also a freelance journalist focusing on environmental issues and teaches a Climate Journalism course at Masaryk University in Brno.
Cross-posted from the Green European Journal
The ridges of the Krušné hory (Ore Mountains), on the border between Czechia and Germany, have begun to grow green again after recovering from the era of coal mining and heavy industry. There are water sources that the people living in the foothills visit for recreation. The former quarries are being transformed into lakes with beaches and adjacent wetlands. Tourism has started to develop.
Yet the future of the mountains, named for their plentiful metal ores, may once again be tied to mining: the Cínovec area, on the Czech side of the border, is believed to hold 3-5 per cent of the world’s lithium reserves. With global demand for lithium projected to increase 26-fold by 2050, private investors, the EU, and the Czech government are eager to start mining. But local communities are sceptical about the benefits more mining would bring to their lives.
A history of mining
Mining has played a significant role in the economic and cultural life of Bohemia and Saxony ever since the 12th century. Silver, iron, uranium, lignite (brown coal), tungsten, tin, cobalt and other minerals have all been exported from local tunnels.
Kamila Vítek Derynková, a member of the local association Cinvald, explains that mining is linked to local pride and identity, both in Czechia and in Germany. “In Germany, they still hold festivities to celebrate mining, even though most of the men who once worked in the mines are no longer alive.” She clarifies that “we do not find that kind of cultural tradition associated with strip coal mining.”
The extraction of brown coal from strip mines in the Czech Ore Mountains will end in a few months (earlier than in northern Bohemia, where coal will be phased out by 2033 at the latest). Since its inception during the Industrial Revolution, lignite has profoundly impacted the Czech regions of Karlovy Vary and Ústecký, leading to the destruction of villages, and transforming large swathes of land into a moonscape. Moreover, the chemical industry in the foothills often caused acid rain and pollution. Atmospheric pollution from the burning of brown coal in power plants remains an issue to date.
In terms of socioeconomic indicators, Karlovy Vary and Ústecký are still the least developed regions in Czechia. Mining companies did not reinvest their profits in the development of these areas, so local communities are facing not just environmental pollution and degradation, but also social exclusion, and a lack of attractive jobs for young people.
A race for Zinnwaldite
Czechia allegedly has the 10th-largest lithium reserves in the world and the second-largest in Europe after Germany. Most of the lithium, tin, and tungsten deposits are located on the Czech side of the Ore Mountains, about six kilometres north of the town of Dubí, in the Teplice area.
Mineral extraction in Cínovec lasted until 1991, when the deposit was closed due to a decline in profitability. However, new mining technologies, the rise in prices of tin and tungsten, and the growing importance of lithium for the energy transition have revived commercial interest in the site. GEOMET, a joint venture between the Australian company European Metals Holding (EMS) and the ČEZ group (whose majority shareholder is the Czech government) is planning to extract the mineral zinnwaldite contained in the granite rock.
Feasibility studies for GEOMET’s planned 450-metre-deep mine are underway. Mining is expected to start in 2027, with an estimated duration of 26 years, during which enough lithium for half a million car batteries should be extracted annually. The plan includes the construction of lithium processing plants, and originally entailed the intention to build a car batteries gigafactory in the region. However, this part of the project has been put on hold for lack of investor interest. “Given the shares held by foreign investors, it is not at all clear how much lithium would ultimately remain in Czechia for processing and how it would be used,” explains Vítek Derynková.
Zinnwaldite ore is not particularly rich in lithium (it contains 0.2-0.3 per cent of the mineral), and underground extraction is costly, but the volume of the deposit makes it an attractive undertaking for investors. However, local associations opposed to mining highlight how investors and politicians tend to exaggerate the size of mineral deposits to make a stronger case for extraction.
Test drilling has been underway in Cínovec since 2010, and 67 tests have been performed to date for lithium alone. In the immediate vicinity of the site, there is also a landfill dump of the sand produced by the extraction of tin. That heap of sand, which has been recultivated by now, belongs to Czech billionaire Karel Janeček. If he wanted to, he could mine and process the lithic mica it contains, as he already holds the necessary permits. Local rumour has it that he is waiting for the planned lithium processing plant to be in operation before proceeding.
Yet mining the sand could compound the impacts of deep mining both in terms of traffic (an estimated 33 truckloads of sand per day would pass through Dubí to transport the sand) and water consumption. “The wind blows 300 days a year in that area, and it would be necessary to sprinkle the sand with water to keep it from becoming dust,” explains Vítek Derynková. “Already today, there is not enough water for the natural environment and the people there during the hot summers.”
Local resistance
It was not until the summer of 2023, when GEOMET purchased land in the Újezdeček municipality, that the Czech media started providing more in-depth coverage of the planned processing plant. Earlier that year, the European Commission had classified Cínovec as a strategic project, making it eligible for financial aid under the Just Transition Fund.
At the first public meeting held in July 2023, GEOMET representatives promised to compensate the local community by upgrading the children’s playground and donating snow removal equipment. At that time, however, government representatives were speaking in the media about a mining project worth 80 billion euros, sparking a wave of local displeasure with the scale of the proposed compensation.
In September, the mayors of local municipalities voiced their opposition to mining to Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala. In his visit to the planned mine, Fiala said the Ústecký region could become Europe’s lithium superpower.More public meetings have been held since, but local residents feel they still lack basic information about the project. The promised feasibility study is being delayed, the Environmental Impact Assessment is not yet ready, and the beginning of extraction is being postponed.
“Information from the mining companies is constantly changing, the size of the mining area keeps fluctuating,” complains Stanislav Molnár, the mayor of Újezdeček. There is a lack of clarity on the processing and transportation of the minerals too: “Sometimes it is described as going to happen by cable car, sometimes as passing through the forest.” According to Molnár, conflicting information, along with an ongoing drop in lithium prices and the low interest in electric cars, explains why everybody but one person said they were against mining in a local survey.
The opponents of extraction have already notched up a first victory: the transfer of the planned lithium processing plant away from Újezdeček. The municipality is already strongly impacted by industrial activity, and Molnár believes the plant would have had negative repercussions on the local community at a time in which it is trying to move towards a different future with the construction of 77 single-family houses. The processing facilities are now set to be built some 50 kilometres away, in the Prunéřov industrial campus. Újezdeček is expected to host an ore transfer station instead, which has sparked another wave of protests.
Locals are trying to amplify their voices by reaching out to the media, gathering relevant documentation to prepare for public meetings, and drawing on many years of experience in political organising. “We are creating pressure so that the extraction of lithium won’t harm people and nature. We have a wealth of experience with mining companies, their work, and their unfulfilled promises. They always do their best to get started as quickly and cheaply as possible, ideally without the population commenting on their plans, says Vítek Derynková of Cinvald. According to the activist, the aim of the ČEZ group and GEOMET is not to contribute to Europe’s decarbonisation, but to profit, as shown by the lack of focus on recycling, among other things. “If the European Union wants local communities to accept extraction, it has to negotiate with them and monitor the process.”
For Derynková, this isn’t just a “not in my backyard” position. The area, she explains, still bears the visible signs of past mining activity, such as abandoned piles of materials, depressions and sinkholes on the ground’s surface, and the entrances to the tunnels. Lithium extraction would bring more dust and pollution, as well as groundwater depletion, harming ecosystems (the local bogs are already suffering from a lack of water) and wildlife (especially birds such as the grouse). Locals hope that a large nature reserve, which has been expected for years, will finally be declared.
On the contrary, the Cínovec project would increase the traffic of heavy trucks and put more pressure on local water systems, without bringing tangible economic benefits to the community: property prices would likely fall, while coal workers would not get access to quality jobs unless they are retrained. GEOMET representatives have admitted to local associations that most miners would be employed through agencies based in other countries. They have yet to respond to my question on this issue.
Transforming work
During a recent visit to Ústecký, Czech President Petr Pavel pointed out that most of the country’s socially excluded localities are concentrated in just three regions – Moravia-Silesia, Karlovarský, and Ústecký itself – all of which have in common the gradual phasing out of mining as part of the energy transition. “Those three regions concentrate about 70 per cent of all excluded localities in the country on their territories, while the other 30 per cent are distributed around the other 11 regions,” Pavel noted.
Social anthropologist Lucie Trlifajová, who has long studied the economic situation in coal-mining regions, explains that “more than 10 years ago, Ústecký was quite strongly impacted by the economic crisis and high levels of unemployment,” which contributed to sparking anti-Roma marches and demands for welfare benefits to be restricted. Today, employment is comparatively high, and wages are rising, but many local workers commute long hours and work shifts around the clock. For instance, when Amazon opened a large fulfilment centre in Dobrovíz, outside of the capital Prague, it hired many people from Chomutov or Most, in Ústecký. “They are brought to work by bus. There are daycare facilities for the children of the parents who work at Amazon and have 10-hour shifts plus a two-hour round-trip commute, and they are open six days a week, non-stop, overnight,” explains Trlifajová.
The transformation of work must therefore take into account the impact on the quality of life. The social anthropologist recounts how, ever since the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when Czechia joined global networks of production, higher-educated citizens left Ústecký, while local communities have struggled with declining public services – hospitals, local shops, post offices. For Trlifajová, a Just Transition process, if it were to be set up well, would be a cure for the frustration and insecurity that results in the population’s lack of trust in democracy.
Zuzana Vondrová, an expert on the Just Transition from the Centre for Transport and Energy, believes that closing the mines need not just be painful for local communities, but should open up new opportunities and prospects for the future, especially for younger generations. “The Just Transition Fund is also based on that principle – which is why it has to be drawn on in such a way that local populations in particular will benefit from it.”
With regard to lithium mining, Vondrová says it should be assessed in terms of its impact on the local population and the natural environment, but also in terms of climate obligations. “The state should arrange the kind of conditions that will guarantee we will not be mere exporters, but that in addition to companies paying taxes on our territory, the processing of these resources will also take place here, creating added value for our economy. We certainly will need these batteries for the green transformation and need to obtain these critical resources on EU territory, but not at any cost,” concludes Vondrová.
No participation
In Czechia’s coal regions, lithium and the production of batteries for the car industry have long been presented as the greatest opportunities linked to the green transition. However, the undemocratic handling of the process has led to a state of generalised distrust, and industrial development plans have cracks in them.
From the outset, NGOs have criticised the lack of transparency and information, which sidelined local participation. The interests of big companies took precedence, no matter if these companies had a track record of contributing to the poor quality of life in these regions.
As Marika Volfová of the Platform for Environmental and Social Transformation Re-set put it, “the money is divvied up for strategic projects which frequently do not correspond to the genuine needs of the coal mining regions. … Nobody asked the employees and the people living in these regions what their needs are and what issues are crucial to them.”
The local population is being given no guarantee that the lithium mined will be used for a socially just green transition. For example, will it serve to produce personal vehicle batteries, or will it also contribute to strengthening public transport? At the moment, such a debate with local communities is missing at both the EU and Czech level.
According to Volfová, “The failure of the transformation could intensify the lack of trust among some members of the public in institutions and in politics itself. People see money being distributed, but they do not have the feeling that it’s their money too, that it’s money they could also ask for, that this entire process also concerns them somehow.” The motto of the EU’s Just Transition programme, “leave no one behind”, seems difficult to fulfil without meaningful participation.
Finding consensus
At a conference called Future Symptoms, held in the industrial city of Ústí nad Labem in early November 2024, sociologist Ágnes Gagyi explained that Czechia is a semi-peripheral country, economically dependent on Germany and its car industry. On a global scale, the country’s domestic capital is low, as is its competitiveness. For this reason, Czechia tries to attract foreign investors with incentives and tax breaks, allowing them to realise their projects cheaply and fast. The risk is that both employment conditions for labourers and the quality of life for local residents are negatively impacted unless Czech politicians are sufficiently prepared to negotiate with investors.
Gagyi, who studies Eastern European movements and politics, emphasised the need for constant dialogue among all involved parties. “After years of negotiations, parties often join forces for which such a move would have been unthinkable at the beginning.” In her view, it is essential to hold interdisciplinary conferences and create spaces where economic, artistic, activist, as well as local and EU perspectives can be shared and discussed. “Thanks to this, we can create a common agenda according to which the [green] transformation can actually happen.”
Future Symptoms brought together other initiatives that have lithium in common as a subject. Local communities opposing mining in Germany and Portugal, as well as the associations fighting against the construction of a Samsung gigafactory in a green meadow in Dolní Lutyně, in the Ostrava region near the Czech-Polish border, all face common challenges and powerful adversaries.
With its Critical Raw Materials Act, the EU aims to source 40 per cent of strategic minerals from within its borders by 2030, thereby reducing its dependence on third countries like China and Russia. However, this should not come at the expense of rigorous permitting processes or backsliding on environmental protection and public health.
The constant fight for access to complete, truthful information about mining and industrial projects is what brings together local communities and associations from all corners of Europe. They are demanding that the natural environment, water sources, and quality of life be safeguarded in the green transition.
Vítek Derynková finds reason for hope in local organising. A couple of decades ago, she says, she could never have imagined that local residents would join forces to fight against the state’s plans to allow more mining in the region. “The very fact that today, on the ridges of the Ore Mountains, fighters from the Ostrava region, from Germany, from Portugal, many journalists, and especially local residents have come together gives me hope that the most important transformation may have already happened in the minds of the people,” she told me at the Future Symptoms conference.
One of the conference’s organisers, social anthropologist Karolína Žižková, believes that “climate change requires the fastest possible end to the extraction and exploitation of fossil fuels,” but “lithium in and of itself is not a simple solution.” She added: “We must reflect on global inequality, energy fairness, and what lies at the root of our ideas about the future.”
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