For vacationers visiting cornwallin the south-west of the United Kingdom, the landscape is a haven of peace dotted with historical remains. It is the land of the old tin and copper mines that inspired series like Poldarka region with more than 4,000 years of mining history. However, beneath this postcard scenario lies the most coveted resource of the 21st century. The then Prime Minister Boris Johnson baptized it in 2021 as the “Lithium Klondike”, in reference to the historic gold rush. Today, As detailed in an extensive report by Guardianthat “white gold” is the great hope for the British energy transition.
The race for the first drop of lithium. The sector has recently reached milestones that seemed impossible a decade ago. On the one hand, as reported Financial TimesCornish Lithium company has just commissioned its first commercial demonstration plant in the region.
This facility is designed to extract lithium from hard rock in former clay (kaolin) mines, a crucial step that demonstrates that large-scale domestic mining is technically feasible.
Crushing stone is not the only way. In parallel, a fascinating technology has emerged that unites mining and renewable energy. It turns out that, several kilometers deep, the superheated water flowing through the fractures of the granite of cornwall It is loaded with dissolved lithium. As explained by BBCTaking advantage of this has enabled a historic milestone: the United Downs power plant, operated by Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL), has become the first in the country to generate electricity from the Earth’s heat, while producing the first domestic supply of lithium extracted from these underground fluids.
The mechanics, as detailed Guardianis ingenious: the boiling brine is pumped (at about 200 °C), its heat is used to drive turbines that generate electricity, the lithium is chemically extracted and the cold water is returned to the subsoil. The initial figures for this project are modest—just 100 tons of lithium per year, enough for 1,400 electric cars—but the goal is to scale up to 18,000 tons per year.
What does it really mean to unearth this treasure?? As emphasized Financial Timesthe primary motivation is geostrategic: the West desperately needs to reduce its dependence on China in the critical metals supply chain. Additionally, unlike wind or solar energy, geothermal brine provides renewable electricity “24 hours a day, 7 days a week”, shielding the network against the vagaries of gas.
An abyss riddled with obstacles. But from the laboratory to the commercial mine there is a stretch full of barriers. First, drilling wells kilometers deep or building processing plants requires massive injections of capital. The GEL project has already cost 50 million pounds, inform BBC. Furthermore, the market is ruthless: recently, the Imerys British Lithium (IBL) side project, which promised to create the largest lithium hub in the country, has had to be halted due to “funding constraints and difficult market conditions.”
The second major obstacle is the emotional shock with the population. A report from a few months ago in The Conversation perfectly illustrates this drama in the village of St Dennis. For Cornish Lithium to expand its open-pit mine at the former Trelavour quarry, it needs to demolish huge conical mountains of clay waste. The problem is that the locals have affectionately named them Flatty and Pointy. What for the mining company is debris that blocks lithium, for the people it is their heritage, their visual identity since the 19th century. It is the bitter dilemma of the green transition: sacrificing the local landscape to save the global climate.
The Spanish mirror. This tension between national urgency and local rejection resonates strongly in Spain. As we have explained in Xatakathe European Union has launched a lifeline of 22,000 million euros to support 47 strategic mining projects and stop the bleeding of foreign dependence. Seven of them are on Spanish soil, with three standing out in Extremadura: the Aguablanca mine (the only nickel deposit in Europe, which reopens after a decade) and the tungsten mines of Las Navas and La Parrilla.
However, the syndrome NIMBY (“Not In My Back Yard”) hits just as it does on British soil. The same publication recalls that the emblematic and controversial Cáceres lithium mine has been left out of European aid due to the fierce opposition of neighborhood and environmental platforms, a social pressure that has already managed to knock down similar projects in Ávila.
The shadow of the dragon: the clock is ticking. While Europe deals with waste dumps and bureaucracy, China competes in another league. Fatih Birol, director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), warned to launch An operational mine takes an average of 17 years. The West is running against the clock, and Beijing is two decades ahead of us.
And the data is suffocating. China processes 80% of the world’s lithium and 95% of graphite. For years, they sold batteries below production cost, taking losses to exterminate Western competition and establish silent dependence. Far from relaxing, the Asian giant keep devouring the subsoil: it has recently tripled its lithium reserves (going from 6% to 16.5% worldwide) thanks to new discoveries in its salt lakes. And the problem is not just “white gold.” The IEA alert that by 2035 there will be a 30% supply deficit in copper. Without copper for the cables, having batteries will be useless.
The true cost of the transition. The UK’s mining awakening is the perfect microcosm of the challenge facing the West. We have discovered that we have the treasure under our feet, but geology is only the starting line.
“White gold” requires colossal sacrifices. It requires risking billions in unstable markets, altering places that communities love and facing a very slow bureaucracy in the face of an implacable Asian rival. The batteries that will power the 21st century are not only going to cost us money; They will require profound social wear and tear. Lithium promises us the future, but unearthing it is going to be a real nightmare.
Image | Cornish Lithium
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