Tees Valley Lithium (TVL) has won approval for Europe’s largest lithium refinery, at Teesside.
by Rory Butler / November 28, 2022
Inside the deal: The £200 million processing plant will be built at the Wilton International Chemicals Park, in the Teesside Freeport, with backing by Alkemy Capital Investments.
TVL has appointed Wave International, an engineering and manufacturing firm with more than twenty years’ mining experience, as its lead engineering and technology partner.
Planning permission was granted by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council following an eighteen-month consultation and completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
- the UK’s first lithium hydroxide refinery
- state-of-the-art electrochemical processing
- lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate
- 100% certified green energy
Once operational, the refinery will produce 96,000 tpa of low-carbon battery-grade lithium hydroxide – equivalent to 15% of projected European demand.
The “zero waste facility” is forecast to be in production in 2025, creating more than 1,000 local jobs.
“TVL’s processing refinery is expected to produce enough lithium hydroxide to supply 100% of the forecasted automotive demand in the UK by 2030, with a further 35% of its total production available for export to other countries in Europe and elsewhere,” wrote TVL.
“[This] is a critical step in taking TVL to its next phase of developing the UK’s first lithium hydroxide refinery and spearheading a brand-new industry in Europe and a vital part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Sam Quinn, Director of Alkemy.
“The burgeoning demand from electric vehicle OEMs highlights the urgent need for significant lithium refinery capacity in Europe, which currently does not exist.”
Construction is due to start in 2023.
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