A lithium hydroxide plant in the UK would be the first step towards reducing dependence on imports. According to operating company Cornish Lithium, some of the largest deposits of the raw material needed to make lithium-ion batteries are inactive in the English county of Cornwall Europe.
Batteries are needed, for example, for electric cars and other battery-powered devices. To date, all lithium processed in the UK has been imported. But that is set to change if Cornish Lithium’s managing director, Jeremy Urathol, has his way. More than half of the UK’s annual demand for electric cars could be met from domestic sources, he said.
The demonstration facility in St Austell, which opens this Friday, is part of a project to produce 10,000 tonnes of lithium a year in a climate-friendly way by 2027. There, lithium is obtained from granite in an old kaolin mine.
