‘Landmark’ for UK lithium production as demo plant opens in Cornwall
ITV West Country's Charlotte Gay reports
A demonstration facility in Cornwall is set to start producing lithium hydroxide - a key ingredient in batteries for electric cars and other tech.
The UK currently imports all of the lithium it uses, despite being home to "one of the largest lithium resources in Europe".
But Cornish Lithium hopes to producing 10,000 tonnes of lithium a year by 2027 - and the firm is hailing a new demonstration facility as a "landmark" moment for the project.
The demo plant in St Austell will use granite from an old China clay pit to test the viability of extracting lithium from Cornish rock.
It is hoped the first lithium samples will be sent to car manufacturers in November.
Cornish Lithium chief executive Jeremy Wrathall said: "Lithium is critically important to the manufacturing of electric vehicles, grid scale electricity storage and rechargeable industrial and consumer electronics.
"We’re home to the largest lithium resource in Europe with enough beneath our feet in Cornwall to supply over half of what the electric vehicle industry needs."This is a huge untapped advantage that is currently being wasted, when it could be making our industries more competitive and resilient to global supply chain volatility."
He said extracting lithium in the UK is "sensible" given the geology of Cornwall is right for it, adding it also delivers economic and strategic security.
He said producing it on home soil will cut emissions from shipping lithium abroad and from processing, with the plant next to the quarry extracting lithium from minerals using acid, rather than roasting with fossil fuels which is used for most Chinese hard rock extraction.
The £50million demonstration plant is being hailed as a "landmark" for the UK's transition to green power by Cornish Lithium.
If successful, the firm will scale up the demo site to a £230million full production facility.
Cornish Lithium estimates the project will contribute £800million and create more than 300 jobs in Cornwall from 2027.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “This is great news for Cornish Lithium, and will not only support high-skilled jobs in the South West but give a major boost to our critical minerals supply chains for the long term.
“Lithium will be vital to our automotive sector’s EV transition and driving the green industries of the future, which is why we’ve made clean energy a priority sector in our ambitious, modern Industrial Strategy.”
Other companies are also working to process lithium, in Cornwall and the North East.