What it owns
Cornish Lithium Ltd has assembled rights to explore for lithium in brines across over 300km of Cornwall, where the battery metal has been found naturally dissolved in saltwater since 1864.
The Cornish mining district is a “world-class mineral province”, with estimated historic production of around £45 billion from tin and £11 billion from copper at current prices.
The company has compiled and digitised various sources of historic data, and made 3D models to evaluate the optimal locations for extraction boreholes to be drilled. An initial drilling programme has been undertaken and the results are now being evaluated.
It is also evaluating the potential in Cornwall for other metals, particularly those which are vital to modern technologies such as electric vehicles and power storage batteries.
How's it doing?
In November, Cornish Lithium received an £18mln cash injection from TechMet Limited to help develop its lithium and battery metals operation.
Funding will occur in two tranches of £9mln with the second to follow the delivery of a scoping study for the Trelavour hard rock project near St Austell, which is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2022.
This follows a £6mln fundraising via a crowdfunding platform in the summer.
The company has also been strengthening its senior management team as it moves towards the publication of its maiden resource at the Trelavour project.
Nominal production of lithium hydroxide were produced from the Trelavour project last year and the company has been evaluating the potential for brines in the region, after it returned what it termed "globally significant grades" in results released last September.
The company started its second drilling campaign at its Trelavour hard rock lithium project in January 2021.
What the boss says: chief executive Jeremy Wrathall
“Following Brexit, and as the UK moves to reopen its economy after the [coronavirus] pandemic, the UK government is focussed on becoming a world leader in battery technology and electric vehicle manufacturing. Given this situation, it is now apparent that the creation of a battery and electric vehicle industry in the UK is more likely to happen if the nation has a domestic supply of lithium, especially if this lithium can be responsibly sourced with a low-carbon footprint. This puts Cornish Lithium in a good position."
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