Experts Warn US And Europe’s EV Lithium Needs Not Being Met

Of all the important contract processing tasks for mineral firms in the West, few are more important than those involving lithium. While the mineral has many uses, the growth of the electric vehicle (EV) industry means this is a key area in which growing demand must be met.

For western companies and governments, this aim clashes with the uncomfortable reality that China still has most of the processing power and control over a significant amount of the world’s supply, not least through its belt-and-road initiative, enabling it to secure this and other precious minerals in addition to its copious domestic resources.

While some nations have specific issues – the withdrawal of tax incentives to buy EVs in the US being a significant element of the spectacular fallout between Donald Trump and Tesla boss Elon Musk – it is the wider issue of securing supplies that causes the greatest concern in some quarters.

New Report Highlights Shortfall Fears

These fears have been amplified by a new report produced by East China Normal University in Shanghai and Lund University in Sweden that highlighted the supply shortages the West faces as a result of Chinese dominance.

Co-author of the report Andre Manberger warned that 2030 targets in the US and Europe face being missed under these circumstances, commenting: “It will become difficult for the US and Europe to increase their imports drastically in a short period of time.”

According to the report, current projections of lithium mining within Europe envisage an annual output of 325,000 tonnes, a huge increase on the 2025 figure, but still well below the quantities needed.

The same will be true in the US despite a projected increase from 34,000 tonnes to 610,000 tonnes, while China is expected to increase output from 585,000 tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes.

While finding ways to import more lithium not controlled by China may be part of the solution for Western countries, establishing more local sources to further increase production in Europe will be an important part of the mix.

Britain’s New Role In Lithium

Until now, Britain has been a bystander in lithium mining, importing 100 per cent of the material used here. But that is on the brink of changing.

As north-east regional news provider Business Live reports, Weardale Lithium, having established the viability of brine lithium extraction from the granites of the upper Wear Valley in County Durham, has now secured £3.4 million of funding towards its target of £6 million to commence operations.

Nick Pople, the managing director of the firm, highlighted the importance of domestic lithium sources, commenting that the success so far in raising funds “reflects not just confidence in the progress we are making at Northern Lithium, but also a growing acceptance that the UK needs to develop its own secure and sustainable domestic lithium supply.”

Mr Pople stated that the brine extraction potential of the company’s site in Stanhope is on a scale seldom seen outside China, but it is not the only place in the UK where the prospect of lithium production starting soon is imminent.

Cornish Lithium has two projects, one of them involving lithium extraction from geothermal brines – providing power to local homes in the process – as well as a hard rock project in an old China clay pit.

Minister Outlines Support For Lithium Production

The importance of Cornish Lithium to the UK’s future supplies was highlighted last month when the firm received a visit from Sarah Jones MP, minister of state for the Department for Energy and Net Zero.

Her visit not only emphasised government support for lithium extraction in Cornwall, but also included a visit to the state-of-the-art demonstration processing plant.

Ms Jones said: “In a changing world, it’s never been so important to have strong supplies of critical minerals. Without them, we can’t have renewable energy, AI, or a thriving car sector.”

This, she said, underpinned the government’s intention to establish a new critical minerals strategy to ensure the UK gets the supplies it needs, with the Cornish mining cluster having a “vital” role to play in helping her to devise it.

There is nothing new about the government having a critical minerals strategy, of course, with the previous administration also supporting the development of a UK lithium mining sector. However, if the study from the experts in Shanghai and Lund is correct, the stakes have never been higher.

Cornish Lithium believes the UK could achieve domestic production of 50,000 tonnes for a period of 20 years, which would represent about half the UK’s needs by 2030. It won’t be a full solution to the supply problem, but it will take Britain halfway there.