The electric vehicle revolution: Cornwall tries to revive its lithium mines

The English region wants to produce the metal used in car batteries but has to prove it can do so at scale

Demand for lithium is set to surge over the next 10 years and the production from Cornwall can be more environmentally friendly than Chile, Australia and China, helping to produce batteries with a lower carbon footprint and reducing reliance on overseas supplies.

New extraction technologies being looked at in California by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund could help unlock Cornwall’s lithium. It is found in hot brine which flows through the mineral-rich granite that underlies the whole region. The same brine can also be used to generate low-carbon geothermal energy. These technologies could help revive the Cornish mining industry, following the closure of the last tin mine in 1998 after four thousand years of extraction. The question is whether Cornwall’s resources are big enough to sustain a competitive low-cost lithium industry on the scale needed to meet the UK’s expected demand for batteries. A rival company, British Lithium, is also digging for the battery metal and hopes to open a conventional open-pit mine in St Austell in 2023. The government hopes lithium mining could benefit one of the UK’s most deprived regions, whose tourism and fishing industries have been hard hit by coronavirus. Cornwall’s fishermen also face an uncertain future after Brexit, depending on the outcome of any trade deal.

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