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Mina Doade is a mining project that involves the excavation of an underground mine and the construction of a mineral processing plant in Doade, a small village in the parish of Xirazga, within the municipality of Beariz, Ourense (Spain). The mine targets pegmatite rock, rich in lithium minerals and will also produce muscovite and feldspar concentrates for ceramics.
Mina Doade is a Project led by Recursos Minerales de Galicia S.A., a company owned by Grupo Samca.
Grupo Samca operates in various industries, including mining, renewable energy, plastics, synthetic fibers, agribusiness, real estate development, agrochemicals and logistics infrastructure.
Privately and family-owned since its founding, the group reinvests its profits, maintaining financial stability with an annual turnover of nearly €1.5 billion and around 3,500 employees across Spain, France, Italy and Latin America.
More information: https://gruposamca.com/en
Lithium (Li) is a chemical element that belongs to the alkali metal group. With a density of 0.53 g/cm³, it is the lightest and least dense metal in solid state at room temperature.
It is highly sought after due to its excellent electrochemical potential, storage capacity and electrical and thermal conductivity.
Lithium’s unique physical and chemical properties make it highly valuable in various industrial applications.
- Its most in-demand use today is in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and portable devices, playing a key role in 21st-century energy decarbonization.
More information about lithium
- In healthcare, lithium carbonate is used in pharmaceuticals.
- It is also essential in ceramics, glass and steel smelting, while metallic lithium is widely used in metallurgy and aluminium alloys.
- Additionally, lithium is a key component in lubricants and air purification systems.
The mine will use a cut-and-fill method, a common underground mining technique that combines ore extraction with tunnel stabilization.
Ore is extracted in horizontal layers from the bottom up. Once a layer is fully mined, the empty space is filled with waste material in the form of a paste to support the walls and ceiling.
This process helps maintain the stability of the underground tunnels.
After decades of studies and analysis, Recursos Minerales de Galicia, S.A. has determined that the best location for a viable underground mine is in the Doade-Beariz forest, which is owned by the Comunidad de Montes Vecinal en Mano Común (CMVMC) Lama, Cega e Bisticobo. This area covers 13.62 hectares.
The Alberta I, 1st Section Exploitation Permit spans the municipalities of Cercedo, Forcarei, Avión, Beariz and A Lama covering 1,690 hectares, where the administration has authorised sample collection and subsurface exploration until 2025.
At Mina Doade, hard rock will be extracted from an underground mine. This rock is pegmatite containing lithium-rich (Li) minerals. In addition to these lithium-rich minerals, the rock also contains mica and feldspar. The rock will be processed using physical methods (crushing, flotation, etc.) at the mine entrance, in a beneficiation plant, to obtain different concentrated minerals.
The concentrated lithium ore is the raw material for hydrometallurgical plants, which produce lithium hydroxide or carbonate -essential components for manufacturing battery cathodes. This hydrometallurgical process will be carried out by other companies and industries. Currently, there is only one such plant operating in Europe.
In countries like Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, lithium production is carried out extracting mineral-rich brines, which use entirely different mining techniques due to the nature of the mineral. Therefore, these methods differ from those used at Mina Doade.
Mina Doade will only carry out the mining process to produce lithium concentrate. This product must still be processed in a lithium hydroxide (LiOH) or lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) transformation plant before used as a raw material in a battery manufacturing facility.
These final industrial processes take place in so-called gigafactories, which are usually associated with automotive companies. These facilities require significant funding, large areas of industrial land and proximity to assembly plants. Additionally, they need to source mineral quantities that exceed Mina Doade’s production capacity.
For this reason, Mina Doade’s viability is not dependent on the construction of an industrial plant for lithium concentrate processing into hydroxide or carbonate, or on the establishment of a battery manufacturing plant.
At Mina Doade, 500,000 tons of rock will be extracted annually over a period of 42 years. These are the proven reserves.
The project is designed to produce 93,000 tons of lithium mineral concentrate per year. Its main applications include lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and portable devices, ceramics and glass manufacturing, and carbon dioxide absorption.
Once fully operational, the industrial plant at Mina Doade will also produce two additional materials: muscovite mica concentrates, and feldspar concentrate for use in ceramic manufacturing.
After the mineral concentration operations, the waste generated will be completely inert according to Spanish legislation (Real Decreto 975/2009, of June 12). These residues do not undergo “any significant disintegration, dissolution, or other changes likely to cause negative environmental effects or harm human health.”
The material resulting from the extraction process will be reintroduced into the open sections of the mine as part of the backfilling process, serving as a base for the upper-level section.
The Mina Doade project is designed to minimize both visual and environmental impact.
The mine will cover only 13.62 hectares of land, and the deposit will be underground, making exposure to noise, vibration and dust in the surrounding area negligible. The reprocessing plant will be located at de mine entrance, so material transport within the site will be very short and carried out using conveyor belts.
The final products from Mina Doade will include approximately 220,000 tons per year of lithium mineral concentrates, muscovite, and feldspar for ceramics. There products will be in the form of an inert, light-coloured sand that must be transported to customer logistics centres.
The products will be transported by trucks via roads and highways, primarily to the nearest ports in Galicia. Recursos Minerales de Galicia is committed to minimizing potential impacts on traffic and infrastructure by establishing transport plants and routes in dialogue with local communities and public administration.
The mining extraction process at Mina Doade will use water in controlled recirculation circuits regulated by advanced technology. This ensures that the water used in processing is regenerated and reused at the beginning of the cycle, resulting in minimal net consumption.
Additionally, the Mina Doade project includes the construction of a treatment plant and two small settling ponds to mange excess water from the mine and rainfall.
The project includes the highest guarantees to ensure that Mina Doade will have no impact on water catchments in the Doade area.
A study from the University of A Coruña has determined that the operations involved in the entire process will not cause adverse effects on the water sources in the parish of Doade. Additionally, there will be no impact on surface waters.
Along with the submitted Exploitation Plan, Mina Doade has also presented a Restoration Plan with financial guarantees to return the land to its original use as forested land.
The final phase of Mina Doade includes the complete dismantling of the facilities, full sealing the mine, and the restoration of the land where extraction activities took place.
The cut-and-fill process allows for the execution of the Restoration Plan throughout the entire mining operation, ensuring minimal impact from the earliest phases of activity.
Mina Doade will begin operations only after complying with all environmental regulations at the regional, national and European levels.
To obtain initial operating authorization, an Environmental Impact Act (EIA) must be approved. This study, submitted in January 2025, includes all necessary analyses to detect, identify and evaluate the environmental impact of the mine. As part of this pre-operational study, an Environmental Monitoring Plan has been established to track corrective and preventive measures.
Additionally, Grupo Samca and Recursos Minerales de Galicia are committed to conducting sustainable mining activities with full respect for the environment.
Once operations begin, the Mina Doade project is expected to last for 42 years, during which mineral concentrates will be produced as commercial products. After this period, the restoration process will be completed.
Noise is generated during various mining activities, such as drilling, blasting, extraction, loading and transportation. However, at Mina Doade, this noise impact will be minimal, as these operations will take place underground (more than 50 meters deep).
As for surface activities, they will be conducted in enclosed facilities located several kilometres away from resident areas in Doade.
Therefore, the mine’s noise impact on the surrounding environment will be virtually negligible.
Mina Doade will occupy only 13.62 hectares on the surface, while the deposit itself will be underground. This means that the remaining land area can continue to be used for existing activities, such as forestry operations carried out by local landowners.
The Recursos Minerales de Galicia project promotes a competitive rural economy, helping to mitigate depopulation and aging in the municipalities of Beariz, Avión and Forcarei. It will provide a viable economic contribution to the region.
In addition to creating direct, specialized and high-quality jobs during the operational phase of the mine, the construction phase will require a significant number of temporary workers.
The total committed investment for Mina Doade exceeds €120 million.
Recursos Minerales de Galicia estimates that up to 320 direct and indirect jobs will be created from the approval of the Exploitation Project through the full restoration of the mine.
In addition to these jobs, the mine will generate business opportunities in the surrounding area, including transport services (trucks), security, maintenance and accommodation and catering services for workers.
