The Cornwall Lithium Revival Powering UK’s Green Future

Mining is making a comeback in Cornwall. Aniqah Majid visits the region to see how the promise of critical minerals is breathing new life into the industrial heartland

AROUND ten minutes from St Austell train station is what’s colloquially known as the “Cornish Alps” – a striking landscape of worked mineral mines that weaves through the countryside surrounding the small Cornish town.

“These were all china clay pits,” says my taxi driver, who is taking the scenic route to a new hard rock lithium mining plant owned by mineral exploration and development company Cornish Lithium. The driver is one of the many locals with a family history deeply rooted in the mining industry; his father was a miner, so was his father and his father before him.

Cornwall is the largest mining region in the UK by far, with more than 110 mining and exploration companies in operation, and home to one of the most prominent mining schools, Camborne School of Mines, which is part of the University of Exeter. The mining dates to the Bronze Age, with demand for tin and copper taking trade international. Cornwall’s rich geology yielded abundant metals, slate and arsenic, establishing the region as the world’s leading mining centre in the 18th century. Late in the century, Plymouth apothecary William Cookworthy discovered deposits of china clay, or kaolin, the material used to make fine white porcelain. The St Austell deposits were the largest in the world and fuelled the UK’s porcelain industry, with the three main producers merging in 1919 to form English China Clays (now Imerys).

Despite abundant reserves and a skilled local workforce, mining in Cornwall – and across the UK – has been in decline since the early 20th century, largely due to competition from larger international producers, particularly in China and the US.

However, growing demand for batteries and the critical minerals needed to produce them – especially lithium – has reignited interest and investment in UK mining, particularly in Cornwall (earlier this year, Cornish Metals, a subsidiary of Canadian firm Osisko, reopened the South Crofty mine, which had been closed since 1998).

Lithium is one of the key minerals highlighted in the UK’s Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan which positions battery manufacturing as a cornerstone of the UK’s clean energy and industrial strategy. A soft alkali metal and the lightest solid element in the periodic table, its low weight gives it the highest electrochemical potential and energy density of any metal, making it ideal for renewable energy storage. Lithium hydroxide, used in lithium-ion batteries, is now essential to the supply chains for electric vehicles (EVs) and consumer electronics.

To meet growing demand, the UK’s recent critical minerals and industrial strategies aim to boost domestic material production. Battery manufacturing has become a key driver of the global energy transition, with the UK committing £452m (US$604m) through Innovate UK’s Battery Innovation Programme to accelerate the research, development and scaleup of next-generation battery technologies.

“Our lives have completely changed,” explains Jeremy Wrathall, CEO of Cornish Lithium. “Think back to the train this morning. Everyone is on their phones, and every single one of those phones has a lithium-ion battery in it.”

Wrathall started Cornish Lithium in 2016 with the aim of “extracting lithium responsibly in the UK”. In 2022, the company secured a £1.9m grant from the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF), which has benefitted the development of its Trelavour site, 11 km from St Austell. A former china clay mine that was in operation for 250 years, Trelavour is set around existing infrastructure, which includes engine houses, settling pits and a railway track to ferry materials to and from the site.

Along with other exploration companies operating in Cornwall, such as Imerys and Cornish Metals, Cornish Lithium are developing ways to mine minerals with sustainability at the forefront. Sustainability risk assessments are laid out in their annual reports, with strategies built around treating mine wastewater and using existing mining infrastructure to avoid disruption to biodiversity and the environment.

Domestic security

The UK imports the majority of its lithium supply – importing around 630,000 kg of lithium oxide and hydroxide, and 2.7m kg of lithium carbonate globally as of 2023, according to the World Bank’s World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS). However, Wrathall says Cornwall has the largest lithium deposit in Europe, enough to extract 40,000 t/y for 20 years. Trelavour alone has enough lithium to generate £800m for the Cornish economy and 300 jobs.

“Here in the UK, we are trying to safeguard our own supply chain, which is why it is great to see plans being put forward for battery passports, so that we can legislate for recycled content for low-carbon footprint, which will make it impossible to buy minerals from a place that has disregard for that.”

China is the leading supplier of critical minerals, according to the IEA’s Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025, and is expected to produce 60% of the world’s refined lithium by 2035. The UK’s growing battery and EV sectors face risks from this reliance on imports, as dominant suppliers could impose tariffs or drive-up costs, threatening supply chain stability.

Speaking at this year’s UK Mining Conference, Cornish Metals’ CEO Don Turvey said: “There is no primary production of critical minerals in Europe currently. I believe Asia and China control around 80% of the market, and as projects take a while to get to market, we are likely looking at a market deficit for critical minerals.”

Green processing

Showing me around Cornish Lithium’s lithium hydroxide demonstration site, the Trelavour Lithium Project, is Dai Moseley, process manager for hard rock minerals. “We can make lithium carbonate in this plant,” he says. “But we have chosen to produce hydroxide as it is used to produce the higher performance nickel chemistry cells that are planned to be produced in the UK.”

The mining process begins at the Trelavour Pit, where excavators extract granite rock to be crushed into smaller, more transportable pieces. Once broken down, the granite makes its way to the demonstration plant. Traditional hard rock processing methods, such as calcination – which involves roasting lithium-rich concentrate at around 1,000°C – are both carbon- and water-intensive.

In contrast, Cornish Lithium is advancing sustainable mining practices by adopting an alternative leaching process having acquired the intellectual property and patents for the lithium extraction technology developed by Australian firm Lepidico.

Moseley guides me through mineral concentration, the first stage of the process. Here, the rock is ground in a ball mill and then processed through a series of cyclones to remove the clay. At full-scale, the Trelavour Project will use a semi-autogenous grinding mill for this stage of the process.

This is then further processed through a series of froth floatation cells, to remove the other lithium barren minerals, leaving a lithium-enriched mica.

I watch as specialist workers manage the crushing and milling of decomposed granite ore to create lithium-rich mica concentrate slurry. Before moving to the next stage, water is removed from the slurry using filter presses. Over its planned 20 years of operation, Cornish Lithium expects to deposit 32m t of waste from the concentrator and hydrometallurgical plant.

The second stage of processing takes me next door to the hydrometallurgical plant, where the mica concentrate undergoes acid leaching using the proprietary Lepidico process to produce lithium hydroxide.

Moseley explains that no waste sulfuric acid exits the system; in fact, excess acid is required to drive the reaction. During leaching, calcium carbonate reacts with the acid to form either ettringite, a compound that is recycled back into the process or a gypsum-based solid byproduct that carries iron and manganese impurities and is safely neutralised. The mineral concentration stage provides feedstock for the leaching stage, though the two operate independently. The concentrator facility has been running for six months, providing enough feedstock for the hydrometallurgical processing side to operate for around three months. Going forward, now that the concentrator facility is working at full capacity, each week of production will provide enough feed to operate the hydrometallurgical processing side for one month.

Explaining the process, Moseley says: “We have chosen to do a leaching process, which is where we dissolve the mica in 98% of sulfuric acid, at 105°C to leach out all the metals from the mica and turn them into metal sulfates.”

He continues: “So we have a porous pozzolanic silica as a byproduct for construction, and then we have this pregnant leach solution containing all the metal sulfates that include aluminium, iron, lithium and manganese.”

Because silica is insoluble in acid, it can be separated during leaching to produce pozzolanic silica which enhances cement and concrete strength. Moseley explains that lithium sulfate is recovered from the solution through forced precipitation, typically by adding hydrated lime and calcium carbonate. This is followed by the further addition of calcium hydroxide, which reacts to form lithium hydroxide, with calcium sulfate (gypsum) as the main byproduct. The process also generates several other valuable byproducts, including:

• purified silica – used in cement, concrete, and steelmaking
• alum (potassium aluminium sulfate) – used in water treatment and paper production
• potassium sulfate – a chloride-free fertiliser for crops
• gypsum – used in plasterboard and building materials

Rather than sending these byproducts to waste, Cornish Lithium is collaborating with industry partners to reintegrate them into manufacturing, supporting a circular economy and reducing environmental impact.

The current concentrator and hydrometallurgical facilities at the demonstration plant are respectively 1/200th and 1/800th of the capacity of the full-scale design for the Trelavour project. At commercial scale, the project is expected to produce 10,000 t/y of lithium hydroxide monohydrate. Built on skids, the demonstration unit can be easily removed once the feasibility study for the larger plant is complete.

Hot water

In addition to modernising traditional hard rock mining, Cornish Lithium is developing an alternative method of extraction that involves recovering lithium from geothermal waters. The company is running two projects: the exploratory Besore site, and the Cross Lanes site, which recently received approval to move to commercial production.

At the Cross Lanes site, the first phase of the project will involve drilling and testing two 2,000 m geothermal wells to extract lithium-rich water. Following testing many direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies they have selected the preferred technology for the Cross Lanes project. After the lithium is extracted, the second well will be used to re-inject the water back underground. The company is also exploring the potential to harness geothermal heat from the wells for domestic heating.

The next phase of the Cross Lanes project will focus on producing lithium samples for battery and electric vehicle manufacturers. If successful, Cornish Lithium could become the first company in the UK to commercially produce lithium from geothermal waters.

Cornish mining

The UK government’s new Industrial Strategy will see state-backed credit agency, UK Export Finance, launch a new loan guarantee scheme for domestic suppliers selling critical minerals to UK exporters – part of a government effort to open up working capital and investment for suppliers.

“The new strategy is a hugely important document for the UK as it specifically mentions critical minerals clusters which include Cornwall, the North East, and parts of Scotland. It’s a nod from the government that they are taking this sector seriously,” says Wrathall.

Investment in sustainable mining was also part of the previous government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, which included an investment of £12bn in mining operations and mining jobs.

Wrathall, an alumni of Camborne says that collaboration in Cornwall and across the UK is essential in growing the critical mineral and mining industry. Cornish Lithium is partnering with Cornwall College and local schools to develop apprenticeship schemes that expand opportunities for residents across the region.

Moseley says: “Cornwall cannot rely on tourism forever, and we are engaging with the local community who have a strong history and understanding of mining.” Wrathall adds: “You will have noticed that there are a lot of young people working on our site. We are trying to highlight the excitement and opportunity that comes with our projects and role in the energy transition.

“I think most young people want to change the world and we want more of them to study geology in Cornwall because it is fundamentally a part of the new industrial revolution. We are going from burning stuff to controlling interactions between atoms and chemicals, and energy storage.”

From the windswept heights of the Cornish Alps to the depths of hard rock extraction, Cornwall’s landscape is once again shaping Britain’s industrial destiny. This time, it’s not clay or copper that’s drawing global attention, but lithium – a small element with the power to carry us into a cleaner, smarter future.

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Corrections: 

The original text stated that Trelavour “benefited” from existing infrastructure on the site, this has been removed to plainly state what existing infrastructure there is.

The original article stated that Cornish Lithium secured a total investment of £9.4m last year for its extraction project. This text has been changed and Cornish Lithium has clarified that it received a £1.9m grant from the Automative Transformation Fund (ATF) in 2022.

The original text stated that the UK imports around 630,000 t of lithium globally. This has been corrected to read 630,000 kg for lithium oxide and hydroxide specifically, and further information on lithium carbonate imports has also been added for more context.

The original text quoted that Cornish Lithium had chosen to produce lithium hydroxide because it was the most in demand form of lithium in the battery industry. This has been changed upon Cornish Lithium’s clarification.

The original text stated that hard rock is traditionally processed by roasting mica ore at around 1,000°C to produce lithium-rich concentrate. This has been corrected to say that traditional roasting is done to the lithium-rich concentrate at around 1,000°C.

The original article stated that rock is currently being ground in a semi-autogenous grinding mill. This has been corrected to say that currently the rock is ground in a ball mill. The photo caption for the ball mill has also been corrected.

The original was ambiguous in stating that “more than a dozen workers manage the crushing and milling of raw mica ore”. This has been removed to avoid ambiguity as more than a dozen workers do not work on this specific unit.

The original text implied that the disposal of separated clays and sands was taking place at repurposed china clay pits. Cornish Lithium has confirmed that this is incorrect.

The original article stated that the concentrator facility had been running for one month to provide feedstock for the hydrometallurgical facility to run for around three months. This has been changed upon Cornish Lithium’s clarification.

The original text stated that mica is dissolved in 96% of sulfuric acid, at 106°C. This has been amended by Cornish Lithium to read 98% of sulfuric acid, at 105°C.

The original article stated that “lithium sulfate is recovered from the solution through forced precipitation, typically by adding lime or calcium sulfate”. This has been corrected by Cornish Lithium to read that lithium sulfate is recovered through forced precipitation by adding hydrated lime and calcium carbonate. Cornish lithium has further detailed that calcium hydroxide is added which reacts to form lithium hydroxide and calcium sulfate (gypsum) as a main byproduct. The text has also been changed to clarify that calcium hydroxide converts lithium sulfate into lithium hydroxide.

The original article stated that the whole demonstration plant was 1/200th of the scale of the proposed commercial facility, which intends to produce 10,000 t/y of lithium hydroxide monohydrate. This has been corrected to include the capacity specifications of both the concentrator plant and the hydrometallurgical facility, with clarification that the Trelavour project will specifically produce lithium hydroxide monohydrate.

The original article stated that Cornish Lithium planned to use direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies from the companies GeoLith and Evove. Cornish Lithium has clarified that these technologies were trialled but discounted by the company in favour of other technologies. Hence, references to GeoLith and Evove have been removed.

The original article stated that the mining industry has been promised a £12bn investment from the government as part of its Ten Point Plan. This has been clarified to make it clear it was a commitment from the previous government.