The ability of the UK to supply more of the lithium titanate needed in car batteries to fuel the electric vehicle revolution may have been given a new boost with the discovery of lithium in geothermal springs in Cornwall.
Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL) already runs a geothermal energy plant near Redruth, converting this natural heat into energy, but it has also discovered that the geothermal brines contain high concentrations of lithium that, if extracted, could provide large quantities of the rare earth metal.
Speaking to City AM, the chief executive of one of GEL’s financial backers – Jason Cheng of Kerogen Capital, said: “We’re seeing that GEL’s sites could produce up to on that basis 15,000 tonnes per annum, which would be potentially a quarter of the UK needs by 2035.”
He added that the extraction of lithium from brine could be much more popular than invasive mining or extraction through evaporation, which requires extremely large quantities of water.
While Britain will soon have its first lithium refineries up and running – both Tees Valley Lithium and Green Lithium gained planning permission last autumn for plants due to start operations at the Tees Freeport in 2025 – there is still a current danger that the world may be too reliant on lithium supply from countries that could pose geopolitical problems.
China has long been the most notable of these, with the country having most of the current global refining capacity and potentially controlling a third of global supply by 2025, much of it in African mines, according to UBS. Elsewhere, Iran has found large deposits, according to the Financial Tribune.
By contrast, there is much resistance to lithium mining in much of Europe, with Politico reporting that fears of earth tremors are holding back plans in Germany.
In light of this, the potential of the UK to find substantial geothermal supplies, not just at GE’s site near Redruth but also Cornish Lithium’s United Downs project and others, may place Britain in a stronger position than many other European countries.