A new set of drill results in western Spain points to shallow, thick zones of lithium and rubidium. At Conchas near Fuentes de Oñoro, Berkeley Energia reports continuous intervals up to about 200 feet thick.
The finding sits in a light colored granite unit and comes from a grid of holes across about 12 square miles. It puts Salamanca on the map at a time when Europe is scrambling for battery metals.
Lithium and rubidium at Conchas
Teams used reverse circulation, a drilling method that lifts rock chips to the surface with compressed air. Lead researcher Robert Behets, the Acting Managing Director at Berkeley Energia Limited, is overs…
A new set of drill results in western Spain points to shallow, thick zones of lithium and rubidium. At Conchas near Fuentes de Oñoro, Berkeley Energia reports continuous intervals up to about 200 feet thick.
The finding sits in a light colored granite unit and comes from a grid of holes across about 12 square miles. It puts Salamanca on the map at a time when Europe is scrambling for battery metals.
Lithium and rubidium at Conchas
Teams used reverse circulation, a drilling method that lifts rock chips to the surface with compressed air. Lead researcher Robert Behets, the Acting Managing Director at Berkeley Energia Limited, is overseeing the work.
The program also included diamond drilling, a coring method that cuts intact cylinders for testing. Those cores will feed early processing tests this quarter.
Company drilling reports 200 feet at 0.50 percent lithium oxide from the surface. Another run returned 46 feet at 0.95 percent lithium oxide from about 131 feet.
“The results of the drilling program at Conchas are very encouraging as they have confirmed the presence of shallow, thick zones of lithium and rubidium mineralisation at the Project,” said Behets.
The host is muscovitic leucogranite, a pale granite rich in muscovite mica.
Why rubidium rides with lithium
Rubidium often rides with lithium in mica rich granites because it can swap places with potassium in the crystal lattice. That makes rubidium a useful tracer, and sometimes a byproduct, in lithium systems.
An updated USGS report notes no rubidium production outside China in 2023. It also lists key uses in specialty glass, sensors, and in an atomic clock, a timekeeper that measures atom frequency for precise time.
Rubidium appears on the U.S. critical minerals list. That designation signals supply risk and strategic importance for high tech applications.
Conchas lithium is different
The Conchas granite sits within the Central Iberian Zone (CIZ), a long belt known for lithium rich pegmatites. This corridor in Spain and Portugal has produced many mica rich outcrops linked to late stage granites.
In Extremadura, researchers documented lithium bound in fine micas at the Valdeflórez site. That pattern reinforces why a mica rich granite at Conchas deserves careful laboratory work.
Berkeley plans 3D modeling of the new holes and early metallurgical test work, lab tests that show how metals can be recovered. Those steps turn assay tables into flow sheets and recovery numbers.
The company reports thicker zones toward the northeast and higher grades to the south and northwest. Both trends matter for designing drill spacing and targeting more feed for processing.
Europe’s growing race for battery independence
Europe’s demand for battery materials is climbing fast as electric vehicles and grid storage expand.
The European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act, passed in 2023, aims to secure at least 10 percent of key materials like lithium and cobalt from local mines by 2030. Spain’s discoveries could reduce reliance on imports from Australia, Chile, and China.
The Conchas find adds to a wider trend that includes Portugal’s hard-rock lithium projects and France’s exploration in the Massif Central.
Together, these efforts mark a shift toward domestic mineral sourcing and processing. If projects like Conchas reach production, they could reshape Europe’s battery supply chain from the ground up.
Environmental hurdles
Spain’s resource expansion also comes with scrutiny from environmental groups and local residents. Past controversies over uranium extraction near Retortillo have made mining a sensitive issue in Salamanca province.
New lithium and rubidium projects will face closer review under updated EU mine permitting rules designed to balance supply security with sustainability. Thus Berkeley Energia has emphasized that Conchas lies outside the boundaries of its older uranium operation.
Still, public confidence may depend on transparent environmental studies and community partnerships. A cleaner energy future will require not only new minerals but also trust between miners, regulators, and nearby towns.
Conchas, lithium, and the future
Test plans include crushing, grinding, gravity separation, magnetic separation, and flotation, a process that attaches bubbles to minerals so they lift. Each step changes rock into a concentrate that can be shipped.
Rubidium might serve as a co product if a clean concentrate emerges, but volumes are likely small. EU supply targets make any domestic lithium tonnage more valuable to downstream plants.
These early holes do not equal a resource estimate, a formal tally of recoverable metal. They are an entry point to the math required for a mine plan.
Spain has the rocks, grid access, and a skilled workforce, and Conchas adds a fresh target with merit. If tests confirm a recoverable product, Salamanca could move from drill chips to a new industrial foothold.
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