Lithium was discovered 160 years ago by Arfvedson, a Swedish geologist. About 50 years ago, lithium carbonate was first produced in industrial quantities by Metallgesellschaft AG in Germany, using a mica-type lithium mineral, the zinnwaldite, as starting material.Europe has no large deposit of spodumene, petalite or amblygonite, which could serve as a base for industrial production of lithium compounds. Only lepidolite occurs in quantities big enough to envisage such a production if the market justifies the higher cost involved in using lepidolite instead of spodumene as basic raw material. This may very well be the case for the feedstock of a nuclear fusion-energy plant.For the time being, nearly all lithium raw material, especially lithium carbonate and the ores for direct application, are imported from America, Russia and Africa.At the present time, Metallgesellschaft is the only industrial producer of lithium compounds in Europe. Other producers, like Rhône Poulenc in France, Montecatini in Italy and Associated Lead in England, have abandoned their lithium activities due to unfavourable economic conditions.Metallgesellschaft produces the whole range of lithium compounds: lithium hydroxide, all types of lithium salts, lithium metal, butyl lithium and the lithium hydrides (especially lithium aluminum hydride). The plant capacity is big enough to satisfy any possible demand.The uses for lithium ores and chemicals are, with a few modifications, the same as in the United States. About 15–20,000 tons of lithium minerals are used in the ceramic, enamelling and glass industry, in many cases in order to replace fluorspar.The most interesting new application of lithium compounds is the use of lithium carbonate in the aluminum industry, which allows either up to 10% higher production and/or cost and energy savings and reduction of fluorine emission. If no new applications (e.g. the lithium battery) develop, growth in the lithium market in Europe is expected to come mainly from the aluminum industry, which could double present consumption of about 2 million lb of lithium carbonate within the next 5–10 years. All other applications, such as production of lithium hydroxide for lubricating greases or lithium chloride for welding fluxes, are quite stable or only slowly increasing. Some uses are shrinking, e.g. the use of lithium bromide for air-conditioning equipment. Also, more highly sophisticated compounds, such as butyl lithium or lithium aluminum hydride, show only very modest growth rates.Europe's total lithium-compound requirements expressed as lithium carbonate equivalents are at present on the order of 7 million lb.The lithium industry can cope with an increase in demand, not only for lithium carbonate but also for the other compounds. No spectacular development in lithium prices is anticipated.