The east German town at the centre of the new ‘gold rush’ … for lithium

Refining the metal - which is essential for electric car batteries - in Europe would ease the EU's precarious reliance on China

It has been called the new gold rush - a rush to catch up with China in producing and refining the materials needed in everything from computers to cars: but has it come too late to save Europe's car industry?

Deep inside a former East German town lie the first fruits of the EU's grand plan to de-risk" and wean itself off dependency on imports for the green revolution. In Bitterfeld-Wolfen, 140km south-west of Berlin, an Amsterdam-listed company is scrambling to complete construction of a vast factory that will be the first in Europe to deliver battery-grade lithium.