Cornish Lithium said that, as part of the Li4UK project funded by the Faraday Battery Challenge, the group has produced its first lithium carbonate from the Trelavour project in Cornwall, as part of a study into the wider development of a sustainable lithium industry.
The project consortium comprises Cornish Lithium, Wardell Armstrong International Limited, and The Natural History Museum.
Lithium carbonate was also produced from one other site in Scotland.
“Given the potential that has been established by this project to exploit lithium resources in Cornwall, it is possible that the UK could produce a significant percentage of its lithium demand domestically,” said Cornish Lithium chief Jeremy Wrathall in a statement.
Lithium is essential for all existing and near-term commercial electric vehicle battery technologies and is thus considered the “gateway element” to a zero-carbon future. It is therefore vital that the UK supply chain focuses on sourcing lithium in a secure, sustainable manner to support its battery manufacturing and zero-carbon ambitions.
The Li4UK project was commissioned to assess the feasibility of producing battery quality lithium from UK sources and to evaluate the potential for building a critical new industry for Britain. Currently, the majority of the world’s lithium is produced in South America and Australia, and is then shipped to China for processing into lithium chemicals for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries.
Such production has a high associated carbon footprint and also means battery manufacturers worldwide are heavily reliant on China for a metal which is fundamental to the energy transition towards a green economy. Importantly, there is currently no commercial production of battery quality lithium in the whole of Europe.