Just over an hour’s drive from the construction site of what is intended to be the UK’s first electric vehicle battery ‘gigafactory’, another company is planning to build a battery-grade lithium processing site.
Tees Valley Lithium (TVL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alkemy Capital Investments PLC (LSE:ALK), has an exclusivity agreement in place for a 20-acre plot at the Wilton International chemical park near Middlesbrough to construct what it says will be Europe’s first battery-grade lithium hydroxide processing facility.
The estimated cost of building the facility is currently £269mln.
This week TVL said a feasibility study is due to be released “shortly” from consultants Wave International, with which it is “planning to establish a local project team in the Teesside area in the coming month to accelerate finalisation of local agreements and progress towards execution”.
At full production TVL will produce 96,000 tonnes a year of lithium hydroxide, said chief executive John Walker, which he said would be equivalent to 15% of the UK and EU demand by 2025.
TVL is in discussions with a number of Australian miners which are keen to sell to another refiner outside of China, the Telegraph reported.
As well as Britishvolt, which recently launched a £200mln funding round from investors including Glencore, potential customers for TVL’s lithium hydroxide are also likely to include Nissan’s EV36Zero electric vehicle hub in nearby Sundwrland, which is being expanded.
Parent Alkemy recently hired VSA Capital as its corporate advisor and broker.