Lithium firm makes ‘globally significant’ find in Cornwall
A Cornish company has found “globally significant” grades of lithium in England’s westernmost county, in what could be a crucial discovery for the country’s battery technology industry.
The aptly-named Cornish Lithium, which was founded four years ago, said that initial results from its exploratory work indicated “some of the world’s highest grades of lithium and best overall chemical qualities encountered in published records for geothermal waters anywhere in the world”.
Geothermal waters which contain lithium are different from other occurrences of lithium in salt water because the latter can be used to generate zero-carbon electrical power and heat.
“As such these waters are rapidly becoming recognised as the ultimate ethical source of lithium”, it added.
Lithium is the essential ingredient in making batteries for electric vehicles, which are expected to supplant the conventional combustion-engine powered car as the world seeks to transition away from a carbon-heavy industry.
At the moment, the battery supply chain is dominated by China, which is the world’s largest producer of the rare metal.
The find, which Dr Rob Bowell of resource experts SRK Consulting said was “globally significant”, could thus have significant implications for the UK, which will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035.
Energy research organisation the Faraday Institute has said the country will need about 60,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate by the same year.
Jeremy Wrathall, the firm’s chief executive, said that the project could be in commercial production in the next three to five years.
“This is an exciting step towards the realisation of low-carbon lithium extraction from geothermal waters in Cornwall, and compliments Cornish Lithium’s work to date on exploring for lithium contained within shallower geothermal waters in the County”, he said.
At the moment, Cornish Lithium is raising money through crowdfunding, although Wrathall today said that the firm was mulling a London listing in the next two to three years.
The government has already taken an undisclosed stake in the development of the firm’s pilot plant, which will cost £4m to build.
Though Wrathall cautioned that potential volumes from the project were not yet clear, it could be a significant boon to Cornwall, the home of the UK’s now-defunct tin industry.
Bowell said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for Cornwall to lead the charge on environmentally-responsible extraction of this critical raw material in Europe and beyond.”