Weardale Lithium deal to work with Wilton battery pioneers

The land is being worked by Weardale Lithium, who extract valuable minerals from the brine flowing underground.

The lithium they bring to the surface will be a vital part of battery manufacture for the likes of Nissan at Sunderland and Britishvolt near Blyth.

Today the company has signed a deal to work with Alkemy - who are building the Tees Valley Lithium plant at Wilton to provide a secure and sustainable, domestic supply of lithium.

Read more: Australia deal for Alkemy 

The deal - at this stage a Memorandum of Understanding - will include looking at the development of an intregrated supply chain across the North East. Both companies say they are confident of 'significant synergies'.

The plan for the Tees Valley Lithium plant at Wilton (Image: Press release)

Stewart Dickson, CEO of Weardale Lithium, said: "Weardale Lithium has the objective to become a UK supplier of lithium from geothermal brines. Our partnership with Tees Valley Lithium is another important step in developing an integrated and coherent supply of lithium in North East England. In order to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and meet net-zero targets, the UK needs to secure supply of lithium for refining and production of battery-grade lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate.

"This collaboration with Tees Valley Lithium is highly beneficial for both parties as we both seek to maintain the momentum behind the development of the battery ecosystem in the North East. This builds on the region’s existing strengths in electrification, automotive and advanced manufacturing and enhances the North East’s position at the forefront of electrification technologies.

"Local supply of high-value critical minerals products should support the development of the electrification revolution for years to come, generating highly skilled science, technology and engineering opportunities and at the same time, reducing the environmental impacts and supply risks of imported raw materials.

"This is potentially win-win for both companies and the North East”.

Inside Weardale Lithium's Eastgate boreholes

The work is of huge strategic importance to the UK in achieving its net-zero ambitions and production of high-value batteries for electric vehicles in the auto-manufacturing sector. Currently, there is no commercial lithium production or refining in the UK or Europe.

But construction of the first phase of TVL’s Lithium Hydroxide processing facility at the Wilton International Chemicals Park in Teesside, the first of four production lines planned for the site, will produce 24,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate. Once completed, all four lines will produce 96,000 tpa - around 15% of Europe’s projected demand by 2030.

More than 700gw of gigafactories like Britishvolt and Nissan, which has said it aims for half of its global output to be made up of electric vehicles by 2030, are planned for construction across Europe, providing a long-term queue of customers.

John Walker, CEO of Tees Valley Lithium said: “Tees Valley Lithium is in the process of establishing a world-class Lithium Hydroxide production at the Wilton International Chemicals Park, located in the Teesside Freeport, in order to supply the burgeoning demand from Gigafactories in the UK and Europe. TVL will bring high value intermediate lithium products with a low carbon footprint from around the world, and provide customers in the UK and Europe with an independent and sustainable supply of battery-grade Lithium Hydroxide and Lithium Carbonate.

"We are pleased to be bringing back high value manufacturing to the North East and securing the critical minerals for the UK’s journey to Net Zero.”

Read next: 

• Timeline set out for 'UK first’ Sembcorp batteries project
• Britishvolt admits it is 'rescheduling' some work at Blyth site
• Tech giant's deal for Johnson Matthey battery plant at Billingham