UK to gain first lithium mine in Cornwall in boost to electric car industry

The project is expected to employ 300 people and would produce enough lithium for 500,000 electric cars per year by the end of the decade. Photograph: Adj Brown

The UK is to gain its first lithium mine in Cornwall after a British startup agreed a deal with a French mining company that could supply much of the country’s need for the crucial electric car battery mineral.

British Lithium has agreed to start a joint venture with Paris-listed Imerys that aims to extract 20,000 tonnes of lithium ore, the companies said on Thursday.