Cornwall-based startup Cornish Lithium has successfully raised £53.6 million ($67 million) in funding, marking a significant step toward establishing its inaugural lithium mine in Britain. The funding initiative, part of a larger funding round that could reach £168 million, is led by the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB), with participation from the Energy & Minerals Group (EMG) and TechMet.
The funding is set to propel Cornish Lithium’s ambitious project, aiming to extract lithium from both geothermal waters and hard rock sources. TechMet, Cornish Lithium’s largest shareholder, contributes £5.6 million, bringing its total investment to £30 million. Meanwhile, UKIB and EMG each contribute £24 million to the venture.
Jeremy Wrathall, the founder and CEO of Cornish Lithium, emphasized the significance of securing institutional investor backing, stating that it will play a pivotal role in transitioning the company’s projects into commercial production. This funding milestone arrives after the company effectively identified prime opportunities for extracting lithium from Cornwall’s lithium-enriched geothermal waters and hard rock formations.
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With a mining heritage spanning over 4,000 years, Cornwall’s lithium reserves have drawn increasing attention for potential extraction. The county’s granite rock holds a significant amount of the sought-after silvery-white metal, sparking interest in establishing a localized supply chain. Notably, French mining group Imerys recently acquired an 80% stake in British Lithium, another startup focused on battery-grade lithium carbonate production.
British Lithium, which has been active in Cornwall since 2017, established a pilot plant on land owned by Imerys. The lithium deposit within Cornwall is estimated to be around 161 million tonnes, containing approximately 0.54% lithium oxide. Although this content level is lower than that found in other regions such as Australia, Imerys anticipates extracting 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate by the end of the decade. This quantity is sufficient for manufacturing around 500,000 electric vehicle batteries annually.
The lithium extraction process developed by British Lithium involves a series of steps, including crushing ore-bearing granite, calcination at lower temperatures, leaching, and purification. This innovative method, described as “roasting,” utilizes lime instead of acid.
Cornish Lithium is also exploring an innovative path that could prove ecologically sustainable. The additional funding will enable the company to finalize the engineering design work necessary for creating a demonstration-scale geothermal waters extraction facility.
In geothermal plants, hot water extracted from the earth’s deeper layers is used for its heat potential, and it often contains traces of lithium. Vulcan Energy, engaged in a similar endeavor in the German Upper Rhine Valley, employs a method to filter lithium out of warm water before returning it to the Earth.
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Cornish Lithium highlights on its website that the granite rocks underlying Cornwall are rich in both lithium and heat, offering substantial potential for lithium-enriched geothermal waters. The company aims to tap into these resources through surface-drilled boreholes, reaching permeable geological faults at depth. Once the geothermal waters are brought to the surface, the company envisions selectively extracting lithium compounds via environmentally responsible Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technologies. By harnessing geothermal energy to power this extraction process, Cornish Lithium aims to achieve carbon-neutral lithium production.
In the immediate future, the funding obtained will propel Cornish Lithium’s Trelavour project, situated near St Austell, toward a “construction-ready status.” The project is expected to significantly expand its workforce from 70 employees to over 300 individuals once commercial production commences. Alongside institutional investments, Cornish Lithium plans to raise an additional £6.9 million by issuing shares to small shareholders through Crowdcube, with a particular focus on existing investors.