Crayon1 (@Crayon1)

France is home to significant rock and mineral resources for the communications and electrical storage industries, as well as numerous metals (tungsten, antimony, gold, lead, zinc, germanium, copper, lithium and molybdenum). However, the need for rare earths, essential for technological change, has led to the opening up of new mines. For example, France could be self-sufficient in lithium, a strategic metal used in rechargeable batteries, from hard rock in the Massif Central (e.g. Montebras mine in Creuse) and geothermal brine in Alsace. The potential is in excess of 200,000 t of lithium metal. This is also the case for a project to reopen the Salau tungsten mine at Couflens in Ariège.