UK lithium mining company Cornish Lithium is planning an IPO later this year as it looks to supply the UK automotive battery industry from 2026, its CEO has said.
The listing will take place on the London stock exchange, CEO Jeremy Wrathall told Autocar. “We are a proudly British company, with the aim being to supply the British automotive industry if we can,” he said. The company is aiming to list in June but Wrathall says September/October is “more likely”.
Lithium has been referred to as ‘white gold’ due to its importance for the making of lithium ion batteries and for its steeply rising price in recent months. Lithium is a key material for the battery cathode, which accounts for much of the cost of an automotive battery.
Cornish Lithium is looking to extract the lithium from the granite rock lying under Cornwall, both from the rock itself and from lithium-rich brine flowing deep underground. It will also refine the lithium into automotive-grade lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide.
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“We are building a pilot plant that will start production end of March, then be able to work out how easy it is to produce lithium carbonate from the brine but we know we can produce it from the hard rock,” Wrathall said. A Tesla-sized electric car contains about 40-50kg of lithium in its battery and Wrathall estimates the UK needs around 70,000 tonnes by 2035 to supply planned UK battery plants. Of that, Cornish Lithium hopes to supply around 5000-10,000 tonnes annually, with rival maker British Lithium aiming at around 20,000 tonnes annually.
Currently, most lithium is mined in Australia and in the Andes region of South America, with much of the refining taking place in China. Wrathall estimates that Cornish Lithium’s cost to extract will be roughly similar to that of current mines in Chile and Argentina. “But ours will have a much better carbon footprint,” he said.
The rise in lithium prices has caused a sharp spike in the share value of mining companies, prompting comparisons to the famous gold rush of American history.
However, investors in lithium should exercise caution in general, warned Joe Lowry, president of lithium industry consultancy Global Lithium. “The industry is in a transition period. The maturation process will take time,” he wrote on Linkedin this week. “Most listed lithium companies will fail to execute projects and eventually disappear. Do your homework.”
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