Cornish Lithium to build a demonstration plant
The UK-based miner will construct the plant for lithium concentration and hydrometallurgical processing.
The mining company secured additional funding from Innovate UK to build the plant at the Trelavour Hard Rock Lithium Project near St Austell in Cornwall.
The first pre-concentration step will be via comminution and flotation to produce a lithium mica concentrate. The hydrometallurgical process will use patented Lepidico L-Max and LOH-Max technologies, exclusively licenced by Cornish Lithium, to produce lithium hydroxide.
The funds will be used to develop the hydrometallurgical elements, which is expected to produce commercial samples for evaluation by end users such as battery producers and original equipment manufacturers.
Samples will also be produced of by-products such as gypsum, sulphate of potash, caesium, and rubidium sulphate alum - having already been tested at pilot scale.
Subject to the conclusion of the feasibility study of which the demonstration plant is part of, Cornish Lithium aims to start commercial production of lithium hydroxide in 2026.
The award was granted through Automotive Transformation Fund’s Scale up Readiness Validation competition.
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