The 'white gold' that's transforming economies
LITHIUM
The race to net zero means millions of electric appliances and vehicles powered by lithium batteries – and lithium production needs to increase six-fold by 2030 to keep up with demand.
So what is lithium and why do we need it?
You're reading this thanks to lithium. Well, sort of. It's powering the battery in the phone or the laptop which you’re probably reading this on. Soon, it might be powering your car – or maybe it is already.
The two most important things about lithium are that it's the world’s lightest metal and it’s got a high charge density. Together, that makes it perfect for electronic devices and electric vehicles (EVs), which more and more of us WILL be driving as the world heads towards net zero in an effort to mitigate climate change.
According to the World Economic Forum, in 2010 batteries made up roughly 20 percent of the world’s lithium market. By 2021 that soared to 74 percent, and it's still rising, because the global EV market will double over the next five years to $907bn. Each EV needs roughly six to eight kilograms of lithium, meaning projected demand – again, according to the World Economic Forum – is expected to reach over 3 million tonnes by 2030.
The problem is, on current supply levels, we don’t have enough. Current projections show that production needs to triple by 2025 and increase nearly six-fold by 2030 to keep up. Most experts agree we'll run out by the end of the decade if we don't find more.
Australia and Chile produce 70% of the world's lithium but other countries are getting in the act. It's found in huge quantities in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile – known as the Lithium Triangle.
Europe has no lithium industry but many projects are coming online in France, Germany and the UK.
In the UK there are three companies mining lithium – in Cornwall, in south-west England.
One of them, Cornish Lithium, already has commercially viable plans to start extracting the metal from the granite rock, using traditional methods at its Trelavour site. The company says the site will be fully operational by the end of 2026 and last 20 years, but will it produce enough lithium?
Cornish Lithium CEO Jeremy Wrathall says it'll produce "around 10,000 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent a year. So the number is something like around 200,000 cars. That would be roughly about 10 percent or a bit more than the UK will require by 2030. It could be very, very significant for the UK and Europe."
But it's what's in the water that could be the real game-changer the UK and European car market are looking for. Almost 160 years after lithium was discovered in Cornwall's geothermal waters (before anyone needed it), Wrathall believes there could be "significantly more" resource than at Trelavour in the water underneath the rock at various points across the county. Identifying those points has involved gathering and digitizing ancient maps of Cornwall's old mines.
In the UK, a Cornish company is using old maps to extract the metal from spring water deep underground.
Mining in Cornwall
Cornish miners sought tin, copper, silver arsenic and zinc.
Cornish miners sought tin, copper, silver arsenic and zinc.
Lithium was a waste product in mining
Lithium was first discovered in Cornwall in 1864.
Lithium was first discovered in Cornwall in 1864.
One of these areas is the Blackwater site, where CGTN watches geologists and drillers extracting samples from 1.8 kilometers beneath the surface during a tour of the Blackwater site conducted by Cornish Lithium’s Head of Geothermal, Mike Round.
"What we have now is a team of geologists who are installing a packer system, which is essentially a big balloon to isolate the structures that we saw in the drill core and then test them by pumping that water to the surface," Round explains.
He says that "Mining is almost the wrong term for it," saying a more accurate term would be "water extraction." The company hopes to pump the water to the surface, extract the lithium, use the heat from the water to power nearby buildings, and then put the water back underground.
That's different to the way lithium is extracted from water in Chile, where vast salt lakes are left in the desert to evaporate, leaving behind the lithium. Cornwall also has the added bonus of needing relatively cooler water – it must be heated to just 80 degrees Celsius, much less than in some other places – which makes the extraction process cheaper and more efficient.
The Trelavour pit.
The Trelavour pit.
A vital resource for the green energy transition.
A vital resource for the green energy transition.
More than half the world's lithium is found in South America's Lithium Triangle.
More than half the world's lithium is found in South America's Lithium Triangle.
Machines filter the water using reverse osmosis leaving lithium carbonate.
Machines filter the water using reverse osmosis leaving lithium carbonate.
As the economy booms, environmental concerns are on the back burner.
If you've never been to Cornwall, why not? It's famous for its perfect surfing conditions along the beautiful coast and countryside which attracts 5 million people every year. That, and the Cornish pasty – a local savory delicacy which is directly linked to Cornwall's mining heritage stretching back thousands of years.
Pasties became a go-to meal for the miners' crib breaks; they were an all-in-one meal, filled with mince beef and onion that could be taken down the mines and eaten without cutlery.
It's a delicacy which lasts to this day – unlike the old tin and copper mines in which they were initially eaten. The last one closed in 1998, leaving the county's economy heavily reliant on tourism and consequently making it one of the most socially deprived areas in Europe.
Cornish Lithium argues that re-starting mining could be a chance to diversify, and boost, the local economy with jobs and growth but what do the Cornish locals think? Would they welcome it?
By and large the people of Truro, Cornwall's administrative center, seem on board. "I feel positive about it," said one woman: "We need to use what's here." Another said "It should be coming back because there's so much of the mines that have still got stuff in them."
A young couple were split on the issue, with one saying "It'll bring a lot of investment, a lot of jobs, a lot of money" but the other disagreeing citing environmental concerns.
Cornish Lithium CEO Wrathall notes that "Our Trelavour project is an existing open pit or quarry. The damage to that has been done long ago. We're going to be very careful about how we mine that project. Our geothermal waters lithium projects – you wouldn't see very little at all on the surface as a borehole. It's high-tech, but you won't see much."
The Trelavour pit was formerly a china clay mine.
The Trelavour pit was formerly a china clay mine.
Government backing
Cornish Lithium has received financial backing from the UK government, which recently invested $65.4 million into the company. While that's input is welcome, more is needed in terms of infrastructure and homes. Mike Round says the two biggest concerns are a lack of affordable housing to attract high-skilled employees with young families, and power supply, both in terms of volume and distribution.
EVs on the production line.
EVs on the production line.
Cornwall is the UK's number one tourist destination.
Cornwall is the UK's number one tourist destination.
Lithium batteries on the production line.
Lithium batteries on the production line.
In 2010 batteries made up roughly 20% of the lithium market. By 2021 that had soared to 74% – boosted by the EV market and set to double over the next five years.
Lithium needs to be processed before it goes into EV batteries and at the moment, the UK has no facility that can do it. However, the Indian car-giant Tata has announced plans to open a $4.8 billion gigafactory (a fancy name for an EV battery factory) in Bridgwater, just two hours' drive from Cornwall.
It's hoped this will include a place to process the lithium before it goes into batteries, but nothing is confirmed yet. If not, it'll have to be shipped abroad before coming back to the UK's two gigafactories (one is already in production in north-east England).
However, the fact Europe would be producing its own battery-grade lithium would be "hugely important" according to Cornish Lithium CEO Wrathall: "Every tonne we can produce is a tonne we don't have to import, and therefore we’re not reliant on other companies."
He also argues that to produce it closer to the factories rather than shipping it around the world would be greener – which, ultimately, is the point of all this.
Written by: Paul Hawkins
Presenters: Paul Hawkins, Joel Richards
Producer: Georgina Cooper
Camera: Murray Job
Video Editor: Murray Job, Thomas Triebel
Online Producer: Elizabeth Mearns
