British company Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL) is preparing to begin commercial lithium production in Cornwall in 2029 after securing nearly £10 million in funding from the UK government’s DRIVE35 Automotive Transformation Fund.
GEL plans to combine deep geothermal energy with lithium extraction from geothermal brine. The proposed facility is expected to produce approximately 1,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate annually and represents an estimated investment of £43 million ($58 million).
Government Funding Supports Project Development
The nearly £10 million government funding is a prerequisite for GEL’s planned investment in the lithium extraction facility.
The project follows an approach that combines geothermal energy production with lithium extraction, similar to the model being developed by Vulcan Energy in Germany.
GEL first presented its Cornwall lithium plans in 2023. At the time, the company estimated that the project could provide enough lithium for approximately 250,000 electric vehicle batteries annually. That estimate has since been revised to around 180,000 batteries.
The project is based on geothermal resources identified through deep drilling near Redruth in Cornwall. GEL previously reported lithium concentrations of 340 parts per million (ppm) in the geothermal brine, which it described as among the highest concentrations identified in Europe.
Lithium Carbonate Meets Battery-Grade Purity Requirement
A recent independent analysis has provided another milestone for the project, according to GEL.
The company said lithium carbonate produced from the geothermal brine exceeded the 99.3% purity threshold required for battery-grade lithium carbonate.
Achieving battery-grade purity is an important step toward demonstrating that the geothermal brine resource can be processed into material suitable for battery supply chains.
UK Develops Domestic Lithium Supply Chain
The Cornwall project forms part of wider UK efforts to establish domestic sources of lithium and battery materials.
The government is also supporting the development of a lithium refinery in the Teesside metropolitan region. Tees Valley Lithium is planning to invest £185 million in a facility designed to process lithium precursors into battery-grade lithium.
The UK government has committed an additional £18.3 million grant to that project.
UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the Cornwall investment would contribute to efforts to strengthen domestic industrial capacity.
“Hot on the heels of over £1bn of automotive investment secured already this month, this latest win is a big step towards building our industrial resilience,” Reynolds said.
GEL Plans Commercial Production From 2029
GEL CEO Ryan Law said the company sees an opportunity for the UK to develop domestic resources and expertise around lithium production.
“We believe the UK has an important opportunity to develop the resources, technology and expertise needed to establish a domestic lithium supply, giving the country greater control over an increasingly important raw material, and we are proud to be building that capability here in Cornwall, bringing jobs and new investment to the local area,” Law said.
Subject to the remaining project development and construction work, GEL expects commercial production at the Cornwall facility to begin in 2029, with planned annual output of approximately 1,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate.
