Cornish Lithium, Dual Extraction, and the Race for Domestic Critical Minerals

In this episode we speak to Jamie Airnes, CEO of Cornish Lithium, a pioneering mineral extraction company focused on extracting lithium from hard rock and geothermal waters in Cornwall, in the UK. The company that is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and they appeared within the first few episode of starting this podcast in 2018 when the business was still very much an exploration story.

So 10 years on, it’s developing two different routes to extracting lithium from Cornwall, from hard rock and geothermal waters, as it looks to establish a domestic source of this increasingly important critical mineral for the UK.

Jamie joins us to discuss how far the company has come, the technology behind its two extraction routes, finding the skills and people needed to build a new UK lithium industry and what differentiates its approach from other lithium projects.

We’ll also look at why domestic lithium production matters to the UK, what support is needed from Government, and where Jamie sees Cornish Lithium and the wider UK mining industry over the next 5-10 years from now.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Cornish Lithium is taking a dual-track approach by developing both hard-rock extraction at Trelavour and direct lithium extraction from geothermal brines across Cornwall.

The company’s patented "Lepidico" (L-Max/L-OH / now Licontrol) hydrometallurgical processing enables more efficient, lower-energy lithium refining with reduced water use and minimal waste.

Developing domestic supply is essential to meet the UK government’s mandate of 50,000 tonnes per year by 2035, helping end complete reliance on foreign imports and mitigating global price volatility.

Retaining regional mining talent and collaborating with educational institutions and government are vital to scaling the workforce and delivering a projected £5 billion economic impact to Cornwall.

BEST MOMENTS

"The reality is, it's very very similar in many many ways... The subsurface is really important. It’s really important to understand your subsurface in any project, any development project."

"We have an insatiable demand for electrification, whether it's in the handheld devices that we use, whether it's in electric cars or BESS... Today we produce zero, and I'm a firm believer that where we have the opportunity to do so, we should be producing our own."