British exploration company Cornish Lithium confirmed Tuesday it has raised $67 million in a fundraising round led by the UK Infrastructure Bank, its largest institutional shareholder TechMet and US-based private equity fund EMG.

The initial investment is part of a larger funding package seeking $210m or roughly £168m, needed to provide the equity foundation for commercial production. It includes around £24m investment (equivalent to $30m) from the bank and a further $7m from TechMet, bringing the latter’s total investment in Cornish Lithium to $30m, Kallanish notes.

The funding is set to “significantly accelerate” progress toward the creation of a domestic supply chain for battery-grade lithium compounds, critical to scaling up the UK’s planned battery manufacturing. Cornish Lithium’s ceo Jeremy Wrathall says the proceeds will enable to progress the Trevalour hard rock lithium project to a “construction-ready” status, as well as complete the engineering design work to build a demonstration plant for geothermal waters lithium extraction.

The Trevalour project, located in Cornwall, southwest England, is proposed to produce around 8,000 tonnes/year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide. The plan is to use Australia’s Lepidico technology to extract lithium from the china mica clay pit and eventually convert it into a chemical, in a 20-year mine life operation.

The Cornish region, with a 4,000-year mining heritage, also hosts geothermal waters projects – in which the company is planning the production of lithium from brine and heat and renewable power as by-products. For these projects, Cornish Lithium will test Koch Industries’ direct lithium extraction (DLE) tech in a pilot plant in the autumn. Further drilling is also planned.

The miner says the financial backing is a boost for Cornwall and its ambitions to become an industrial cluster for lithium extraction. First lithium production from Trevalour is slated for 2026.

Commenting on the investment decision, which is done independently of the government, the bank’s ceo John Flint says “this model of investment is fundamental to the success of the UK’s transition to net zero.” He expects the capital injection to support the nascent UK lithium market, which is critical to the future EV production and decarbonisation of the transport sector.

“This is fantastic news for the Cornish economy and the UK car industry as a whole,” says UK business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch. “This announcement demonstrates that the government has got the right plan in place to help produce the batteries we need to ramp up our domestic electric vehicle production. Together with Tata Group’s recent gigafactory announcement, we are making sure the UK automotive sector is well set for the future.”

Cornish Lithium also plans to launch a retail share offer of up to £6.9m through Crowdcube in due course. The company is yet to disclose details on its shareholding structure.