The so called “green”, “net zero” “energy transition” is replete with glaring contradictions, disinformation and misinformation.
The article captured in the image above, deserves being replicated in full here as a very good example of how the revival of environmentally damaging mining is being reframed with the “energy transition” buzz words “green” and “sustainable” to become the 21st century’s alleged “green industrial revolution.”
Cornwall rests on a trove of one of the world’s most desirable metals: lithium. There are hopes that its mining economy could be reborn as part of a nationwide green industrial revolution. That dream might just become a reality – but nothing can be taken for granted.
Lithium, the lightest metal element, is a vital resource for the energy transition. It is used in batteries for EVs and grid-scale energy storage – a single Tesla Model S battery contains 12kg of lithium.
Cornwall happens to be sitting on a massive lithium deposit, prompting former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to describe it as the “Klondike of lithium”. Would-be miners – most notably the companies British Lithium and Cornish Lithium, both based in the county – have descended on the Cornish landscape, poring over old geological maps to search for buried treasure. At present, there is no full-scale operation or any certainty of a full-scale operation. However, pilot projects have yielded encouraging results, and the companies hope that by 2030 they could be extracting thousands of tonnes of lithium every year.
There is sincere hope that this will come to fruition. Cornwall’s mining heritage reaches back to the Bronze Age. Its landscape is so sculpted by abandoned mines that the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape was recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2006. However, the decline of its mining industries through the 20th century has left it the second poorest area in Northern Europe, in no small part dependent on tourism and, until recently, EU funding. The dream is that the Cornish mining industry might be revived – this time, without harming its people and environment – and become an important part of that green industrial revolution the UK has been promised.
The energy transition is driving demand for lithium to unprecedented heights. According to US-based alliance Li-Bridge, demand for lithium-ion batteries in the US alone is set to grow sixfold by 2030. “I think the world has realised that lithium is obviously an essential element, and demand is going to go up massively,” says Jeremy Wrathall, CEO of Cornish Lithium. “We’re talking about five million tonnes of [annual] demand by 2035.”
At present, lithium production is dominated by a few countries. Australia is the leader (approaching 100,000 tonnes of annual production), followed by Chile, China, Argentina, Zimbabwe and Portugal. Not unusually for energy transition metal mining, lithium mining often comes at great environmental and human cost. Geothermal lithium extraction as performed in South America, for instance, involves laying out lithium-rich brine in colossal evaporation pools beneath the Atacama sun. In Chile’s lithium-rich Salar de Atacama salt flat, mining activities consume almost two-thirds of the area’s water, contributing to devastating water shortages. There is an increasing feeling that lithium mining must be carried out more responsibly if the world is to reap its benefits fully. This could be an opportunity for the UK to distinguish itself. It would have a long way to go to catch up with the big lithium producers in terms of volume, but it may be able to mine the world’s most sustainable lithium.
Of course, there are other reasons why the UK government might be interested in domestic lithium production. The US and its allies are scrambling to establish supply chains for technologies of strategic importance – from solar panels to semiconductors – that circumvent China, which is the world leader in both raw critical minerals and lithium-ion battery production. Domestic lithium mining, along with domestic battery manufacturing, would be strongly in the UK’s geopolitical interests. Then-minister Nadhim Zahawi said in 2020: “The potential to become self-sufficient in lithium, which Cornish mining represents, will, I think, be incredibly important to the British economy.”
There are two potential avenues for lithium production: hard-rock mining and direct extraction from brines. The more traditional approach is hard-rock mining. This involves digging rocks, crushing and grinding them to separate the lithium micas (a group of pinkish minerals rich in the element), then subjecting them to various processes to extract the lithium.
Both British Lithium and Cornish Lithium are experimenting with hard-rock mining around St Austell. The former is using its own patented technology for the extraction stage, and the latter is using technology from Australia-based Lepidico. Both companies seem confident. Notably, British Lithium has identified a suitable lithium resource in a former china clay mine which could support annual production of 20,000 tonnes of lithium – enough to meet a third of national demand around the end of the decade.
Whether lithium extracted via hard-rock mining can be considered sustainable hinges mainly on the question of energy. All of that crushing and grinding is incredibly energy-intensive. British Lithium acknowledged in a 2021 interview that if it and Cornish Lithium ran operations concurrently, they would overload the grid. Hopefully, nothing of the sort will come to pass. Both companies are interested in establishing private power networks supplied by local renewable resources like solar and offshore wind (Imerys, which carries out related operations in Cornwall, already has its own private network).
In 1864, a brine ‘rich in Lithia’ was discovered in a mine near Redruth. Cornwall sits on a 280-million-year-old granite sheet, through which water has trickled, absorbing and dissolving lithium in its path. This leaves lithium-rich springs beneath the Cornish landscape. With hard-rock mining, Wrathall says, the rock must be cracked to get the lithium solution out, but, with these brines “nature has already done it for you”.
Extracting lithium from brine is a more experimental approach. Cornish Lithium, which is attempting it, prefers not to call it ‘mining’ at all. The company aims to take brine up to ground level, directly extract the lithium (concentrating the brine via reverse osmosis, followed by an extraction step), then put it back in the ground. This could be a remarkably undisruptive way to produce lithium. In terms of infrastructure, it would require little more than a shed-sized plant and two boreholes: one to collect the brine and one to return it. In 2020, the company confirmed it had found ‘globally significant’ levels of lithium in waters under Cornwall. It recently drilled its third borehole and hopes to have small-scale production (up to 300-500 tonnes a year) running by 2025.
Cornish brines are much less lithium rich than South American brines (220-260mg/L vs 2,000mg/L), but have certain advantages that bode well for sustainability. Elsewhere in the world, these brines surface at very high temperatures and need to be kept under high temperature and pressure to prevent the dissolved solids from crystallising. Cornish brines surface at just 80°C, making them easier and more energy-efficient to process. While not hot enough for geothermal power generation, they are hot enough for district heating networks. Cornish Lithium is already supplying some heat to local clotted cream company Rodda’s and is discussing the possibility of providing heat for greenhouses.
Professor Karen Hudson-Edwards of Camborne School of Mines, an expert in sustainable mining, acknowledges that further work could be needed to ensure this process is truly sustainable – such as understanding the impacts of changing the chemical composition of these brines – but concludes: “In terms of overall impact I think geothermal lithium mining is as sustainable as we can get. It’s not going to create a lot of waste, the footprint is small, and Cornish Lithium are very committed to sustainability, so that’s a big plus as well.
“Mining has a bad reputation with many people, for [good] reasons. Really, it has not been a great performer in the past but I think the companies are waking up to the fact that people are demanding – well, insisting on – sustainability and good practice or they won’t fund the mining companies if they don’t do that. Things are changing quickly.”
Thanks to its natural resources and the sincerity of the companies involved, there is plenty of potential for sustainable lithium mining in Cornwall. Some hope that this – along with renewables and perhaps even a battery factory (St Austell and Newquay MP Steve Double has pressed the government on the possibility) – could place Cornwall at the forefront of a green industrial revolution that is good for the economy, communities in deindustrialised areas, and the environment.
“I absolutely, categorically do think [lithium extraction] could be part of a green revolution in Cornwall,” Wrathall says. Among other benefits, he emphasises that lithium production could offer a great incentive for ambitious young people to stay in their home county.
This is a critical consideration. There is a strong feeling that Cornwall must benefit from this mining revival, rather than having its labour and resources exploited by others (this is complicated by big questions about land ownership, still dominated in the county by hereditary landowners like the Duchy of Cornwall). An important part of ensuring that Cornwall benefits from lithium mining is investing in skills and infrastructure to support the industry. “The metal might be in the ground; you might be able to extract it technologically and economically, but we’ve got skills gaps at the moment. [Local] people haven’t had the opportunity to study and get to a stage where they would be able to easily or naturally go into these jobs,” says Dr Eva Marquis, also of Camborne School of Mines.
“Then you’ve got a social tension if you can’t get people in the county with the right skillset and you want to get these mines up and running in the next five to 10 years. If you don’t invest in the talent pipeline now, you’re [...] going to have to bring people in, and that will probably skew the social divide even more. There would be some benefit to having more people down here but we’re already in a housing crisis, so there are lots of underlying challenges.”
The amount of work required to make the most of Cornwall’s lithium deposits should not be underestimated. It will be a complex, costly endeavour and inherently risky – will markets be willing to pay a large enough green premium to make it economically feasible? The recent collapse of lithium-ion battery start-up Britishvolt, before it was bought out of administration by an Australian firm, should remind us to take nothing for granted.
Experts agree that the challenge is bigger than the main two companies involved, and call for a clear, coordinated strategy to support this green industry and others. Wrathall says: “It doesn’t help that our government hasn’t got an industrial strategy. If we’re to retain the car industry in the UK, that would be helpful. The odds are against us at the moment, but I think Cornwall has got the potential to restore its legacy of innovation and technological leadership.”
There has been increased media attention upon the dangerous and lethal aspects of lithium batteries deemed necessary for the allegedly “green energy transition,” including the recent tragic deaths of a family as a result of a lithium battery fire.
This is a BBC article about the tragic fire which killed mum, Gemma Grmeney and her two young children.
The fire claimed the lives of Gemma Germeney, 31, and her children Lilly Peden, eight, and Oliver Peden, four.
Mark Thomas, of the National Fire Chiefs Council, also repeated warnings about charging batteries in the home.
A man in his 30s remains in a critical condition after the early morning blaze in the King's Hedges area of the city.
Mr Thomas, a member of the National Fire Chiefs Council's home safety committee, told BBC Breakfast that the initial findings of the Cambridgeshire Fire Service "pointed towards the failure of an e-bike of some description".
"One can only imagine the impact that the incident would have on the friends, the family of the lady and the children, and the local community," he said.
"We ask people to consider where they get their e-bikes from, are we buying from reputable sellers?"
He said conversion kits - where an electrical component is added to a standard bike - were "a challenge" for the fire service and could cause battery failure.
"A lithium ion battery will fail with a great energy," he said.
"Most people will not experience a house fire in their lifetime, however in these types of fires where lithium ion is concerned, when the battery fails it ejects its contents which makes it more of an intense blaze." [Bold mine]
He advised owners not to overload sockets and to make sure there was a working smoke alarm on every floor of a property.
Guidance on the Cambridgeshire Fire Service website said "with an increased use of e-bikes and e-scooters, comes a corresponding fire safety concern associated with their charging and storage".
It added: "On occasions batteries can fail catastrophically. They can explode and/or lead to a rapidly developing fire."
'Awake and alert'
Area commander Stuart Smith said the service spent two days at the scene of Friday's fire on Sackville Close with police and specialist fire investigation support.
The vehicle involved had been taken away for further testing, he said.
"All we know from the fire investigation is that the e-bike was on charge, the plug was switched on, it was connected," he said.
"The likelihood is that the e-bike overheated and then caused a fire in the charging process.
"We all know that these electric scooters, e-bikes, hoverboards are starting to be used as modes of transport so they are more prevalent in people's homes when they are being charged.
"I appreciate people want them ready to use to get about during the day, so they charge them at night - but I would urge people to charge them when they are awake and alert."
Thankfully, Dame Maria Miller has raised extremely important concerns in the UK Parliament regarding the safety of lithium-ion batteries used in battery energy storage systems (BESS). I agree with her that due to the very real potential fire hazards they pose, they must be addressed during the official planning process with local fire and rescue departments as consultees. All approved planning applications must also require proper fire and other insurance is place upon industrial wind and solar developments which include BESS.
Conservative parliamentarian Dame Maria Miller raised questions in the UK parliament about the safety of lithium-ion batteries in battery energy storage systems (BESS).
She has long called for such installations to be classed as “hazardous”, which would mean the Environment Agency, Health and Safety Executive and fire services would have to be consulted when planning applications are considered.
She said in a parliamentary debate on Tuesday: “We need to increase power storage, but the potential fire risks associated with lithium-ion battery storage facilities are now becoming widely acknowledged.” A BESS site in her Basingstoke constituency is between a hospital and chalk stream.
There are some 350 planning applications for BESS installations in the UK, she said, adding she did not want to stop them but rather ensure they are located in the right place.
Renewable energy company RES announced on 28 June it gained planning permission to build a 49.9 MW/99.8 MWh lithium-ion BESS in Ayrshire, Scotland. RES claims to be the world’s largest independent renewable energy company active in onshore and offshore wind, solar, green hydrogen, energy storage and transmission and distribution.
Rebecca Meek, RES’ Head of Energy Storage in the UK and Ireland, said the Holmston Farm project has been sited directly adjacent to the existing infrastructure of the Ayr substation, where the project will connect.
In its pre-planning consultation, RES said fire suppression systems were fitted to each battery container, but gave no system details. Likewise with no detail, it stated the battery technology must pass an industry test standard which ensures there is no likelihood of explosion. It said any fire would be contained in a single rack, but without explanation.
“There was a very limited response from stakeholders and the local community,” it stated in its consultation report. “The main concerns raised from the consultation were in relation to the visual impact of the proposed development.” Stakeholders who did not engage included local elected councillors, a nearby school and garden centre.
Lithium-ion battery expert Prof. Paul Christensen of Newcastle University said if he had been asked to review the consultation he would have “ripped it to shreds”. “What’s the fire suppression? It’s critical,” he said. “It purely requires the fire service to be involved at design stage to understand the risks and hazards.”
He has reviewed countless lithium-ion battery fires, some of which have caused death and/or injury. Speaking about BESS generally, he said: “The problem is there’s a feeling, which I can’t agree with, that all these deaths and injuries are collateral damage, but are acceptable because the alternative is uncontrolled global warming.”
He said you cannot ignore the 60 or so BESS that have exploded. Most lithium-ion BESS are designed to have a 40-year lifetime. “Every one of them can expect to have a least one major incident in its lifetime,” he said. “Every single one.”
A report this week from the Faraday Institution, Improving the Safety of Lithium-ion Battery Cells, stated the rates of catastrophic cell failure and associated battery fires involving lithium-ion cells remain extremely low. Some estimates suggest that only one in 40 million cells suffers such a failure, it said. But with an increasing range of use cases for lithium-ion batteries, the potential for problems is increasing, it said. That makes “a pressing need” to improve lithium-ion safety still further.
It notes there is a huge volume of legislation in place globally to minimise electric vehicle battery safety risks. But legislative and testing for battery safety in other areas, including stationary storage, is “in its infancy”. International legislation and testing protocols are needed, it added.
Photo credit: RES
[I have made some of the text bold for emphasis.]
As I have mentioned many times before, novice wind developer Bute Energy has designs to construct some 22 wind “farms” and “energy parks” in beautiful rural Wales. The one they plan to desecrate and destroy the ancient domed Silurian shale hills here in Radnor Forest includes plans for some 36 x 220m (750ft) tall industrial wind turbines, with some 100-200 hectares (257-494 acres) of solar arrays, a substation and battery storage banks i.e. BESS.
Given that studies have shown industrial wind turbines themselves are prone to "catastrophic" fires, the true scale of which is unknown, the problems with BESS fire risks will only compound the problem, particular on the peat moorland hills of Wales, including Radnor Forest and elsewhere in the UK.
With regard to “land grabs,” given that some 80% of Bute Energy’s plans to construct Nant Mithil Energy Park on Radnor Forest are outside of the "pre-assessed area” deemed suitable for wind and solar developments, this is an obvious land grab.
Please also see these related posts and watch the powerful Al Jazeera video which vividly illustrates the huge damage to environments and people’s lives caused by mining the minerals required for the operation of allegedly “clean and green” industrial wind turbines, solar arrays and lithium ion batteries.
