Backed by the UK’s National Wealth Fund and existing partner TechMet, Cornish Lithium will use the fresh equity funding to move its core projects towards commercial viability. If successful, it could help anchor the UK in the global battery materials supply chain.
Some background here: the Cornish economy was once heavily reliant on mining, particularly tin and copper, but also other precious metals. From the 1980s and 1990s, though, mining declined in Cornwall following a number of mine closures – most famously, the South Crofty tin mine in West Cornwall. Now, with the advent of EVs, advances in battery technology, and growing demand for precious metals like lithium, mining is gradually returning to Cornwall.
Cornish Lithium is one of the companies involved in this renaissance; the company’s CEO, Jeremy Wrathall, believes Cornwall is “home to the largest lithium resource in Europe with enough beneath our feet… to supply over half of the what the electric vehicle industry needs.” This is what motivated the opening of a £15 million ‘demonstration plant’ for lithium production in October 2024, and it’s also what is driving the rather significant new investments into the company today.
So, back to the fresh equity funding. Cornish Lithium plans to channel this into two main projects. First, there’s the existing demonstration plant in Trevalour, which will produce lithium hydroxide from granite extracted from an old clay pit. The company states it wants to use the funding to help move it towards a “construction decision” by way of completing a feasibility study for its Trevalour Lithium project as well as testing of its low-carbon processing technology. The other side of the coin is the Cross Lanes Geothermal Lithium project, which Cornish Lithium wants to move towards commercial drilling. This would be the UK’s first commercial geothermal lithium production facility and leverage Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology to separate lithium from geothermal brines.
Jeremy Wrathall, Founder and Executive Chairman of Cornish Lithium, commented: “We are delighted to have the continued backing of NWF and TechMet, and to be able to offer our wider shareholder base the opportunity to invest alongside them. This funding marks an exciting step forward for Cornish Lithium as we move closer to construction decisions at our flagship projects. We have made significant progress since our last fundraising round and these new funds will enable Cornish Lithium to continue the journey towards securing a supply of lithium for UK industry and to support development of the domestic battery industry.”
Ian Brown, Interim CEO at the National Wealth Fund, added: “A resilient domestic supply chain of lithium is critical as we transition towards net zero. Our financing will help Cornish Lithium progress towards commercial production, creating good year-round jobs, boosting local economic growth and helping ground Cornwall as an industrial cluster for critical minerals.”
cornishlithium.com
