Value proposition

Our advanced Pilot Plant uses bespoke technologies to sustainably extract battery-grade lithium from abundant granites

Imerys British Lithium is running its £4 million lithium pilot plant in Cornwall to demonstrate and optimise its bespoke technology for the sustainable extraction of battery-grade lithium from mica granite. We have entered a joint venture with Imerys and are progressing towards full-scale lithium carbonate production by 2028.

We were the first company to drill for lithium in the UK, and have built in Cornwall, the only dedicated lithium pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy laboratory in the UK.

In 2021 British Lithium won a £2.9m research and development grant from Innovate UK to build our pilot plant to demonstrate our novel technology, to prove its environmental credentials and to produce samples for lithium customers. In 2022 we were awarded a £2m scale up readiness validation grant by the Automotive Transformation Fund.

British Lithium is working rapidly toward establishing the UK's first quarry and refinery, to produce the lithium required for the transition of the UK from hydrocarbon to electric mobility.

British Lithium aims to be the lowest-carbon producer of lithium, and with production in the UK giving our local battery makers and EV makers an advantage over Europe.

metallurgy, lithium, research and development, Cornish mining, low carbon, critical minerals, cornish lithium, and batteries