News
18 March 2025

Cornwall commercial lithium facility gets green light

Cornwall Council grants Cornish Lithium planning permission for the UK's first commercial geothermal lithium production facility.

© Cornish Lithium

The planning consent is for the facility to be built at the miner's Cross Lanes Lithium Project, near Chacewater, which is due to start this spring.

There are multiple phases of testing and enhancements, including a demonstration plant, with a long-term aim of achieving full commercial production at the site.

Phase One involves drilling and testing two 2,000m-deep, production-scale wells. Cornish Lithium say this will build on successful exploration drilling at the site, which was completed at 2023.

Lithium-enriched geothermal waters will be extracted from the first well using Direct Lithium Extraction technology. Once the lithium has been extracted, the water will then be returned underground via the second well.

These production-scale wells will also allow the company to assess the potential for harnessing heat from the same geothermal waters to provide heating for local homes and businesses.

Once the lithium has been extracted, the water will then be returned underground via the second well. 

Having drilled and tested an exploration borehole at the site in 2023, the mining company say it has already established that lithium-enriched geothermal waters circulate naturally within the permeable geological structures that underlie the area.

This news comes as the Cornwall Mining & Geo-Resources Alliance (CMGA) launches, an initiative born from the University of Exeter’s Geo-Resources Cluster project, building on the former Cornwall Mining Alliance.

The CMGA says it will strengthen Cornwall’s position as a global leader in mining, geothermal energy and the critical minerals supply chain - with more than 100 companies already involved.

 

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