A mining company has raised nearly £1million to drill for lithium in Cornwall in what is being termed the 21st Century’s “gold rush”.
Cornish Lithium has successfully raised over £826,000 from shareholders to continue exploration for lithium in the Duchy, in both geothermal waters and in hard rock.
It intends to build on a successful drilling programme that concluded earlier this year.
Recent exploration has proved “highly encouraging” and the company is now planning further phases of drilling as soon as conditions allow.
Samples from a recent hard rock drilling campaign are currently undergoing metallurgical testing and evaluation in Cornwall and Australia.
Lithium is used in an increasing number of devices, such as thermometers, remote car locks, laser pointers, MP3 players, hearing aids, calculators and particularly batteries, for example in backup systems in computers and in electric vehicles.
Jeremy Wrathall, Cornish Lithium Founder and chief executive, said: “ Given the results from exploration activities, the company decided to offer shareholders the opportunity to invest further in the company and we are delighted with the result, during a time of huge uncertainty where investors are thinking carefully about where they deploy their funds.
“Following Brexit, and as the UK moves to reopen its economy after the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK Government is focussed on becoming a world leader in battery technology and electric vehicle manufacturing.
“Given this situation, it is now apparent that the creation of a battery and electric vehicle industry in the UK is more likely to happen if the nation has a domestic supply of lithium, especially if this lithium can be responsibly sourced with a low-carbon footprint.
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“This puts Cornish Lithium in a good position, as our project could revolutionise supply of lithium required for large-scale manufacture of Li-ion batteries in the UK, aligning directly with key Grand Challenge Missions under the 2019 UK Industrial Strategy.
“Both the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the Minister for Trade and Industry, Nadhim Zahawi, mentioned in speeches recently the importance of creating a domestic supply chain for lithium and other battery metals.
“In addition, the grant received for the ‘Li4UK’ project from the Government’s Faraday Battery Challenge Fund, in which Cornish Lithium is a participant alongside Wardell Armstrong and The Natural History Museum, highlights the importance that the Government places on the opportunity for a domestic lithium supply."
In April, The Faraday Institution examined the impact on demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel for electric vehicle batteries, as the UK moves to end sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035.
They concluded that action is needed now to iron out likely bottlenecks in supply chains, and identify Cornish Lithium as one of the UK’s key commercial strengths in response to the upscaling challenge faced. The Institution called the hunt for lithium, cobalt and nickel the “gold rush of the 21 st Century”.
