28 JULY 2023, TEESSIDE
Building the refinery will create over 1,000 jobs during the construction phase and 250 full-time, local, and highly-skilled jobs once operational. Green Lithium is committed to establishing leading environmental, social, and governance credentials, including by reducing its carbon footprint and emissions. The refinery in Teesside will use low-energy processes, renewable electricity, hydrogen gas, and carbon capture technology to achieve a 75% lower carbon footprint than traditional refineries.
The plant will also use a non-acid leach process that has low environmental impact, making it a sustainable and low-carbon refining process. Green Lithium’s aim is to set higher environmental standards within the industry and support the acceleration of the adoption of EVs and sustainable energy storage. The success of Europe’s battery energy, storage, and automotive sectors depends on localised supply, which Green Lithium’s refinery will provide.
“This an exciting development and milestone on Green Lithium’s journey to deliver the UK’s first lithium refinery. Lithium is an essential component of batteries and a secure supply will be critical for our automotive and green energy industries.
“Green Lithium’s plans for a refinery in Teesside highlight the UK as a strategic location for refining and mid-stream manufacturing, reinforcing the UK as a leading player in the global race for critical minerals and supporting the aims of our Critical Minerals Strategy.
“The Government is supporting critical minerals through the Automotive Transformation Fund and will continue to explore how it can support UK companies in building the diversified, responsible and resilient critical minerals supply chains of tomorrow. I look forward to visiting and seeing the amazing technology first hand in the near future.”
These factors underline why the UK Government made lithium a key part of its Critical Minerals Strategy in 2022. By 2030, the overall European market alone will require 800,000 tonnes of refined lithium per year, as the annual gigafactory output of Europe’s top five lithium battery makers is set to grow by +28%.
Green Lithium is seizing the opportunity presented by Europe’s future high demand and potential future uncertainty in the Chinese market by building a refinery that will enable the growth of localised battery and electric vehicle industries in the UK and the EU.
On April 11, 2023, Green Lithium submitted an Outline Planning Application to the Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council for the creation of an integrated lithium production facility. The facility will manufacture concentrated lithium hydroxide monohydrate on a 58-acre site within the PD Ports Teesport complex at Kinkerdale Road, Teesport.
Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council approved the application on July 25, 2023, after a successful public consultation process and completion of all statutory assessments, including the Environmental Impact Assessment. The application and supporting documents are available on the council’s planning portal. The assessments covered various factors such as climate change, noise pollution, waste, air quality, ecology, flood risk and drainage, landscape and visual, contaminated land, transportation, and heritage.
The approval of the application signals support for Green Lithium’s project to build state-of-the-art facilities on Teesside, as all independent consultees found no issues or concerns with the proposed development.
“I am thrilled we have been granted permission to set up a lithium refinery at the Teesport site, which we believe is an ideal location for producing low-carbon and environmentally-friendly lithium. The refinery will have an annual production capacity of 50,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium chemicals, which will help meet the growing demand in Europe.
“East Asia currently processes 89% of the world’s hard-rock lithium, and demand there is expected to exceed production output by 2030. Therefore, the UK and EU’s dependence on imported refined lithium chemicals creates uncertainty over supply, price, and volume security.
“Our product will be used in the production of lithium-ion batteries, EV batteries, energy storage, and grid stabilisation. With this level of production, we can facilitate the manufacture of over 1 million EVs in Europe by 2030, where the market is expected to produce over 15 million cars per year, supporting continent-wide security of supply.”