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Joint venture to provide lithium carbonate in the UK as French giant buys startup

Joint venture to provide lithium carbonate in the UK as French giant buys startup

Business news |
By Nick Flaherty



French mining giant Imerys has formed a joint venture with British Lithium to create the UK’s first integrated production of battery-grade lithium carbonate, at the same time buying a majority stake in the startup. 

Imerys contributes its lithium mineral resources, land and infrastructure in Cornwall for an 80% stake in the joint venture through Imerys UK, whilst British Lithium brings its bespoke lithium carbonate processing technology, its technical team and its pilot plant for the remaining 20%.

At the same time the Imerys group has acquired 80% of British Lithium for an undisclosed sum.

The transaction has been approved by the UK Government under the National Security Investment Act protocol as the venture will reduce the UK’s and Europe’s dependence on critical raw materials imports.

Since 2017, British Lithium has carried out drilling and exploration on Imerys-owned land in Cornwall with a pilot plant to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate. It received financial support from Innovate UK and the Automotive Transformation Fund.

The aim is to have mining and processing of lithium carbonate on the same site to ship to UK battery gigafactories to reduce the environmental impact.

Competing UK lithium supplier Cornish Lithium has also been struggling financially and is reported to be raising temporary funding ahead of its next major investment round. This is extracting lithium from geothermal water, whereas the British Lithium process extracts lithium from the waste rocks from clay mines.

As part of the joint venture, Imerys will provide a large lithium deposit: 161 million tonnes of inferred resources at 0.54% lithium oxide content, giving confidence of a life of mine exceeding 30 years.

However this will not happen quickly. A drilling programme and pre feasibility study (PFS) are in progress and the plans for a quarry, a processing plant and a conversion unit co-located on the existing Imerys china clay mine will be subject to further investment decisions by Imerys from 2027.

The 30 year life of the min is based on 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent per year, potentially enough to equip 500,000 electrical vehicles per year by the end of the decade. This would meet roughly two-thirds of Britain’s estimated battery demand by 2030 when all UK car manufacturers convert to electric vehicles.

Imerys has its own lithium project in France called EMILI the two together make would make Imerys the largest integrated lithium producer in Europe, representing more than 20% of the announced European lithium output by 2030.

Announced lithium projects in Europe

Imerys already employs 830 people across five open-pit mines in Cornwall and Devon with 15 processing lants in Cornwall.

“After working closely with Imerys several years, the Directors, shareholders, and staff of British Lithium are delighted to formalize their partnership with Imerys and are confident that this alignment of interests will propel us toward continued rapid progress. This marks a key milestone for British Lithium, Imerys, and the entire lithium battery industry, as they embark on a journey to establish a sustainable future for lithium production in the United Kingdom,” said Alessandro Dazza, CEO of Imerys.

“After working closely with Imerys several years, the Directors, shareholders, and staff of British Lithium are delighted to formalize their partnership with Imerys and are confident that this alignment of interests will propel us toward continued rapid progress. This marks a key milestone for British Lithium, Imerys, and the entire lithium battery industry, as they embark on a journey to establish a sustainable future for lithium production in the United Kingdom,” said Roderick Smith, Chairman of British Lithium.

www.imerys.com; www.britishlithium.co.uk

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