EMILI lithium project awarded €116 million EU Innovation Fund grant
In a major boost to Europe’s ambitions to decarbonize mobility, Imerys’ EMILI project has been awarded a €116 million grant from the European Union’s Innovation Fund.
EMILI is Imerys’ landmark lithium initiative in central France, designed to extract and refine domestic lithium from the Beauvoir deposit to equip 700,000 electric vehicles annually.
Financed by revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System, the Innovation Fund is one of the world's most competitive programs dedicated to scaling up cutting-edge low-carbon technologies and industrial flagship projects that deliver strong European added value.
High standards for sustainable production
The €116 million grant specifically supports the construction of EMILI’s state-of-the-art lithium conversion plant in Saint-Victor, France, awarded under the Innovation Fund's "Clean Tech Manufacturing" call for proposals.
Aligned with Imerys’ ambitious sustainability roadmap, the plant is designed to meet the highest environmental and operational standards, demonstrating how responsible mining and refining can power a sustainable future.
This recognition highlights the dedicated efforts of Imerys’ teams and partners who have advanced the project through key development phases. As engineering and construction progress, Imerys remains focused on delivering high-performance, responsibly sourced lithium to power the mobility of tomorrow.
To learn more, visit: https://emili.imerys.com/en
On 22 April 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Imerys' Beauvoir kaolin site in Échassières (Allier), dedicated to the EMILI lithium project. The visit was part of a broader government initiative to accelerate France's strategic industrial projects, notably marked by a cabinet meeting held in Montluçon.
Imerys has just announced the selection of two key sites in the Allier region in France for its lithium extraction and transformation project, EMILI. This move is part of an ambitious initiative to strengthen the European battery industry for electric vehicles and contribute to the energy transition.
A campaign of laboratory tests has made it possible to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide using granite from the Beauvoir quarry. These encouraging results confirm Imerys’ technological capabilities and the effectiveness of the processes put in place for the EMILI project.
On October 24, Imerys announced the start of the EMILI project in the presence of government officials, elected representatives and local authorities.