Cornwall is playing a "vital role" supplying minerals such as lithium and tin to the UK’s economy, according to the government’s first ever Critical Minerals Strategy.
The document, published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), sets out how critical minerals will become increasingly important to bolstering energy security and UK industry, including in the production of batteries for electric cars and in electronics and wind turbines.
Cornwall has been highlighted in the report for its mineral wealth and the "world renowned" Camborne School of Mines.
The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has welcomed the strategy. The LEP has invested £2.9m from the government’s Getting Building Fund in a £4m pilot lithium extraction plant near Redruth. The project has been built by mineral exploration company Cornish Lithium to demonstrate that lithium can be recovered from geothermal waters.
In June, a major shareholder of Cornish Lithium announced it was investing a further £9m in the business.
LEP board member and renewables lead Steve Jermy said: “We’ve got a wonderful mining heritage in Cornwall and some of the resources here, particularly lithium, are world-class. If we can invest early and get it running early, it’s going to be an industry of national significance.
"In terms of jobs and economic development it’s a sector we think has huge potential, and it will give the UK resilience for the future by providing a domestic supply of critical minerals.”
Mike Round, head of geothermal lithium at Cornish Lithium, said the new lithium extraction pilot plant had created 10 high-skilled jobs. The plant has so far processed geothermal waters from the United Downs Deep Geothermal project, which is planned to be the first geothermal power plant in the UK.
He said: “What we’ve managed to show is that it is possible to extract lithium from deep groundwaters in Cornwall with technology that is low impact. What this is doing is unlocking a potential resource of an incredibly important critical metal here in the UK that we can process."
According to the LEP, the government’s Critical Minerals Strategy aims to maximise what the UK produces along the critical minerals value chain – through mining, refining, manufacturing, and recycling – in a way that creates jobs and growth, and "protects" communities and the natural environment.
"It aims to ‘level up’ post-industrial areas like Cornwall by driving up pay, employment, and productivity, and attract overseas investment into UK critical minerals projects," the LEP added.
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