Cornish Lithium, the innovative mineral exploration and development company based in Cornwall, UK, is pleased to announce representation on the UK’s Critical Minerals Expert Committee. Jeremy Wrathall, Founder and CEO, will be joining the Committee together with a select number of industry and academic experts appointed to the Committee.

The formation of the Committee is a key element of the UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy (published on 19 October 2021 online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-strategy), and has been established by the Right Honourable Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”). The Committee is the first of its kind in the UK, and will provide independent advice to government on the scope and content of a critical minerals strategy. The Committee will also define and publish an updated list of these minerals to guide government investment decisions. The resulting UK Critical Minerals Strategy will be published in 2022, setting out the UK’s approach to securing the technology critical minerals and metals aimed at: 

• Ensuring the UK has a reliable supply of critical minerals and metals;
• Establishing an enabling environment for growing the sector in the UK;
• Showing leadership through working bilaterally and multilaterally to support work on international standards to extend and strengthen the circular economy in technology-critical minerals;
• Ensuring work to build critical mineral supply chain resilience supports the UK’s international development priorities;
• Using the UK’s R&D resources to build a better understanding of markets and prices to help mitigate the impact of supply shocks and demand spikes, and to enable better foresight and early intervention; and
• Work with UK industry (including SMEs) to consider how the private and public sectors can better share risks to promote investment and drive innovation at all levels.

Through this strategy, the UK government will seek to support the engagement of the UK’s mining sector in new and existing markets, facilitating investment and collaboration in extraction and processing opportunities.

Jeremy Wrathall, Founder and CEO of Cornish Lithium, said: 
“On behalf of Cornish Lithium, I am honoured to have been asked to join the Critical Minerals Expert Committee, which will play a key role in defining the UK’s Critical Minerals Strategy. This strategy will be essential for the UK to secure its supply of the critical raw materials, such as lithium, needed to deliver the transition to a net-zero economy and I will been keen to put forward the case for how the mining industry and Cornwall can assist with securing this vital part of the supply chain.

“At Cornish Lithium we are pushing forwards with developing a sustainable domestic source of lithium for the benefit of the UK. We will soon publish our maiden resource statement for our Trelavour Hard Rock Project and we remain on track to commission the Direct Lithium Extraction Pilot Plant at our Geothermal Waters Test Facility at United Downs.

“As highlighted by the COP26 conference, the development of clean technologies, such as electric vehicles and sources of renewable energy, is of great importance and is urgently needed to materially reduce emissions in order to combat climate change. To develop these technologies at the scale required will entail securing significant quantities of the critical minerals utilised to manufacture them. As a result, I believe the creation of this Committee is a positive step in helping to achieve the UK’s Net Zero Strategy.”

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Cornish Lithium