British Lithium raises output target to 21,000 mt/year lithium carbonate

London — Lithium mine developer British Lithium Ltd. said Feb. 2 that results from its drilling and testing programs were better than expected and should allow it to produce 21,000 mt/year of high-purity lithium carbonate after its full-scale production start in three to five years.

This is slightly higher than production estimates of 20,000 mt/year of lithium carbonate given last year by the company, which is developing a lithium mine in Cornwall, UK. This is the first mine site globally that will produce lithium from mica in granite, it said.

A 13-mt bulk sample of hard rock being analyzed by British Lithium at its Cornwall-based metallurgical laboratory is showing better than expected results, the company said.

"Our tests are suggesting a potential yield of 21,000 tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate a year, which represents about one third of what the UK would need for its electric revolution by 2030," said British Lithium chairman Roderick Smith in a statement sent to S&P Global Platts.

"Our preference is to use the strategic advantage of a UK supply of lithium to attract a battery plant to Britain as a customer; however, fast-growing demand from Europe could also be met from the UK."

The ultimate aim is to set up a lithium refinery that would supply lithium carbonate to the local automotive industry, Smith said.

UK needs 50,000-60,000/mt

Last year, mining sector sources estimated the UK will need 50,000-60,000 mt/year of lithium carbonate equivalent for battery production to satisfy government plans to produce only electric vehicles, assuming production continues at around 1.2 million vehicles a year.

Following the announcement of its 10-point green plan in November 2020, the UK government is targeting the end of sales of new gasoline and diesel cars and vans by 2030 -- five years earlier than previously planned -- by backing car manufacturing bases in the West Midlands, the Northeast and North Wales.

British Lithium is one of only two lithium mine projects in the UK. The other, Cornish Lithium, is targeting a production start within three to five years to produce at least 10,000 mt/year of lithium carbonate equivalent, in what it has described as a "material contribution" to the UK's total expected requirement of the light metal. Both projects have received some UK government funding.

The UK is trying to attract several battery megafactories and each megafactory is expected to consume 25,000 mt/year of lithium a year. Privately held Britishvolt recently announced plans to set up a gigafactory in the UK with capacity of more than 30 GWh in a 2023 startup.

British Lithium said that it is about to embark on a third round of excavation drilling, as it ramps up operations further in 2021.