Lithium Processing Plant In Hampshire Gets Green Light

The extraction of lithium is something that is happening in greater abundance across the world as more mines and extraction plants open up, but in order to process the raw material into usable, refined lithium for use in the batteries required by the growing fleet of electric cars (and other applications) will mean more facilities are needed.

In the UK, two major lithium refining plants are set to become operational in the Tees Freeport in the next few years, run by Green Lithium and Tees Valley Lithium, but they will not be the only new lithium plants in the UK.

The Basingstoke Plant Controversy

As the Basingstoke Gazette reports, planning permission has just been granted for an existing industrial site to be repurposed as a lithium chloride plant. The application was made on behalf of Leverton Clark, a Basingstoke-based chemicals firm specialising in lithium.

The new plant will be based at the nearby St Modwen Park on the edge of Basingstoke, in an industrial estate flanked by the M3 motorway, which will make it easy to transport lithium to and from the site by road. While it may not have direct access by sea enjoyed by the Tees Valley plants, the M3 does provide a swift link to the nearby port of Southampton.

Not everyone is happy about the plans, which the Basingstoke Gazette described as “controversial”, amid 66 objections to the planning application from locals centred on concerns about fumes and about additional work and noise.

One resident said: “I object to a chemical plant, which uses toxic materials harmful to human health, being situated in a busy, vibrant residential area and near to occupied office buildings,” while another stated that although many people around the UK live near chemical plants, these were built before the homes, thus giving those moving there a choice.

Objections Answered As Green Light In Given

Some may, of course, see this as classic ‘nimbyism’ and Leverton Clark was quick to point out that it has an exemplary safety record and already has three operational facilities in Basingstoke, one of which stands much nearer residential areas without ever generating complaints.

If the notion of great clouds of toxic gas drifting across Basingstoke is somewhat far-fetched, concerns about the flammability of lithium batteries received more serious scrutiny from councillors, with planning permission being granted on the proviso that no batteries are produced at the site.

This, of course, is not an issue for Leverton Clark, as this was not the purpose of the plant and the latter function is undertaken in gigafactories, for which several are planned at other locations across the country.

However, while the supply of lithium is well established and the industrial capacity to refine and process it is growing, it is public objections on environmental and safety grounds that could pose one of the biggest barriers to the increased use of the material, perhaps ironically given the role it is set to play in slashing fossil fuel emissions from motor vehicles.

Trouble Brewing In Serbia

Processing plants across Europe have been looking forward to accessing one of the richest supplies found anywhere on the continent after the recent decision of the Serbian government to give the green light to mining lithium in the Jadar region, with Rio Tinto running the project.

However, this decision represented a reversal of a previous decision by the Serbian government, which had previously agreed with concerns by residents of the region about perceived risks to water quality.

The U-turn came about after various assurances were received from Rio Tinto and the plans amended, but this has done nothing to assuage protesters. Thousands of them recently marched through Belgrade, chanting slogans such as “Rio Tinto leave Serbia”.

Nor is the opposition just vocal. Protest leader Zlatko Kokanovic, a farmer in the Jadar region, urged protestors to blockade two Belgrade railway stations.

To raise the stakes further, the Serbian government claimed the protest was about bringing down the president Aleksandar Vucic. Mr Vucic claimed to have received intelligence from Russia of an imminent coup attempt.

Nothing quite so dramatic appears to be afoot in Basingstoke, but it is a reminder that, on occasion, the provision of rare earth materials cannot always be guaranteed. If there is further direct action in the Jadar Valley that sabotages Rio Tinto’s project, European refining and processing plants may need to have other supplies on hand.

In the UK, thankfully, the thermal brine extraction methods proposed by Weardale Lithium and Cornish Lithium for plants at either end of England should not prove controversial. But these will only meet a fraction of the UK’s lithium needs, meaning secure supplies will still need to be established.