LONDON (CU)_Cornish Lithium, a mineral exploration company based in Cornwall, UK, announced plans to form a consortium to assess the economic viability of producing lithium from waste material generated from kaolin operations. According to the company, the consortium will involve Imerys, French multinational company involved in production and processing of industrial minerals, and sustainable manufacturing innovation consultancy HSSMI.
It further noted that the £1 million Project, which will be led by Cornish Lithium, will benefit from funding of Innovate UK. The project aims to analyse the economic viability of extracting lithium from the rock from which kaolin is extracted. If successful, the efforts would increase the resource efficiency of the mined rock since it would not only secure domestic supply of lithium, while also making the Cornish kaolin industry even more competitive in global markets.
Imerys, as one of the largest kaolin producers in the world, will play a key role in the consortium. Headquartered in Paris, the company makes a contribution of £220 million sales every year to the British Economy, with more than 750 employees in mid-Cornwall and 1100 employees across the country.
Back in 1987, a British Geological Survey report revealed the potential of lithium in the kaolin region in Cornwall, considering the fact that kaolin is sourced from decomposed granite, a rock which contains lithium minerals in the form of lithium mica. However, at the time, there was no economic imperative for such a source, although now, lithium is vital in the United Kingdom’s transition to carbon neutrality. Meanwhile, Cornish Lithium is a leader in efforts of environmentally sustainable extraction of lithium from hard rock and geothermal waters, in the district of Cornwall.
