Pilot Scale Production of Lithium from UK Granites; transitioning to an electric vehicle future post Covid-19

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

If implemented, our Project would create Europe's only domestic supply of lithium, placing the UK at the forefront of the integrated manufacture of lithium batteries and zero-emission vehicles, supporting the green-led recovery of the UK's automotive sector from the dramatic losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the six months to 30 June 2020, UK diesel car sales fell 64.9%, petrol sales fell by 52.3%, whereas EV sales increased by 158.6%; June's largest selling car was the imported Tesla Model 3 and the second largest, the imported iPace. In 2019, cars were _already_ the UK's largest import by value. Carmakers co-locate with battery makers. Just one Gigafactory (large lithium-ion battery plant) is currently proposed in the UK, whereas many are under construction in Europe. To transform the whole UK car industry from internal combustion to EVs would require seven Gigafactories (_Faraday 2020 study_). The first EV designed in the UK (Jaguar's I-Pace) is made in Austria. Even the iconic Mini-Electric uses drive trains and batteries made in China. 45% of people surveyed by Venson said radical improvements in air pollution from reduced traffic during Covid-19 has made them consider purchasing an EV, and 62% want more done to expedite take-up of EVs, once the UK has recovered from the pandemic. European governments, including the UK's, have mandated the switch from hydrocarbons to electric mobility. Lithium-ion batteries are essential for this transition, yet no battery-grade lithium is produced in Europe. BLL has a substantial 112 Mt lithium-mica-granite deposit in Cornwall, but lithium has never been commercially extracted from mica. Previous, mostly academic work on processing granites, has proposed froth flotation and sulphuric acid leaching which would produce millions of tonnes of contaminated residues. BLL has developed proprietary technology for separating mica from the granite without using chemicals and extracting lithium from that mica, and have produced battery-grade lithium at laboratory scale. Our technology potentially offers the lowest environmental footprint of any world lithium producer. This Project will prove the technical feasibility of building and operating a pilot plant in the UK in 2021 to prove our technology, to prove its environmental suitability, to provide samples of the final product for tests by our proposed customer and to attract commercial development funding. We offer potential UK battery and EV makers a competitive advantage over Europe, with UK's only established lithium Resource and the potential to be Europe's first, battery-quality lithium chemical producer.