Following the successful production of nominal battery-grade lithium hydroxide, mineral exploration and development company Cornish Lithium has said it will be accelerating the Trelavour hard rock lithium project near St Austell.
According to Place Tech, the firm used a proprietary process technology from Australian company Lepidico on lithium mica samples mined during the initial hard rock lithium drilling programme earlier this year.
Cornish Lithium has paid £2.3 million for a 15-year royalty-free licence to use the technology from Australian Stock Exchange-listed Lepidico for the Trelavour project, meaning the Cornwall-based company can proceed towards bulk metallurgical testing and the construction of a pilot plant.
It is hoped that the project will accelerate the domestic production of battery quality lithium chemicals that will be needed by the growing UK electric vehicle industry. So far the project has indicated that there is a potential to produce battery-grade lithium in Cornwall without the need for further refining.
Jeremy Wrathall, founder and CEO of Cornish Lithium, said that the next phase, to commence shortly at Trelavour, will run alongside studies which continue to advance the company’s projects tie extract lithium in geothermal waters across Cornwall.
The forthcoming construction of a lithium pilot plant at United Downs will allow the Cornish Lithium to trial direct lithium extraction technology at the United Downs Deep Geothermal Project, with partners Geothermal Engineering.
“Importantly, Lepidico’s technologies are in keeping with Cornish Lithium’s desire to produce lithium in an environmentally friendly, low carbon manner given their ability to directly leach lithium-bearing mica minerals at atmospheric pressure,” he said.
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