By Nicholas Earl
Cornish Lithium has secured a vital cash injection after fears for its future, the company announced today.
The miner will gain a £53.6m boost from three parties, which will help fund its plans to develop a supply chain of lithium compounds for electric vehicles.
This includes a £24m investment from the state-backed UK Infrastructure Bank, the same sum from US-based private equity fund EMG and £5.6m from the firm’s largest institutional shareholder Tech Met.
News of the funding comes after it reported financial difficulties back in June, warning that it needed to secure a £10m cash injection to“ensure the business can meet its financial commitments”.
Cornish Lithium chief executive Jeremy Wrathall told City A.M. this was a “fantastic day for Cornwall and for the UK”.
Wrathall confirmed the company will focus on domestic sales, and predicts the UK will need “every single tonne of lithium that we can.”
“Every time we can produce here with green power, it’s really good for the UK and it brings jobs and employment property possibilities here,” he said.
He predicted it will be on course to deliver 10 per cent of the 80,000 tonnes of lithium the UK will need every year by 2030 to make EVs and develop major renewable projects.
“I think that there is potential to supply substantially more than that from our brine sources in Cornwall, which we’re uncovering what we think is the tip of the iceberg. So we really think there’s a lot of potential to produce very, clean, low carbon low impact lithium from Cornwall, which could be very substantial. It’s so exciting,” Wrathall said.
The latest flow of money puts Cornish Lithium on course to undertake a feasibility study for its Trelavour project, which could produce 7,800 tonnes per year of lithium hydroxide, from a repurposed clay pit in South West England.
It is also progressing with the exploration stages for brine projects in Cornwall.
Cornish Lithium is now assembling a wider £200m-plus package required for potential second stage financing.
