european magazine
Critical minerals are now more in demand than ever. Of all places, there are large deposits in the tranquil Rosamunde Pilcher country of Cornwall. The British government is also interested in reviving the mines.
Richard Williams examines an old mine shaft 50 meters underground. He wants to find out how much tin is in the rock. Tin was mined at the South Crofty mine in Cornwall for more than four hundred years. The mine was the heart of the local economy. But it was over at the end of the 1990s because production was no longer financially worthwhile. Managing director Williams now wants to revive the mine. It would be the only active tin mine in Europe.
South Crofty is not an isolated case. Cornwall’s mining industry, forgotten decades ago, is relevant again today. Whether in the production of solar panels and electric car batteries or the construction of geothermal power plants: so-called critical minerals and rare earths are needed everywhere. Cornwall’s geology is rich in such raw materials.
Rethinking because of new conflicts
But it’s also about geopolitics: The British government wants to become independent of countries like China by reactivating its own mining industry. “The focus today is more on security of supply and domestic production,” says Williams. Above all, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and tensions between China and Taiwan led to this rethinking. He plans to reopen the old tin mine in three years and extract about 5,000 tons of tin per year. That could cover almost all of Britain’s needs, said Williams.
Richard Williams, boss of the mining company Cornish Metals.
Andrew Smith has similar ambitions, but he is interested in a different raw material: lithium. It is fundamental for the construction of batteries in electric cars. Significant deposits have been discovered in Cornwall in recent years. At British Lithium’s test facility in Saint Austell, a diamond drill retrieves granite bars containing the “white gold” from a depth of 700 meters. According to Smith, it’s an apt name because the rush for lithium is like the “new gold rush.”
There is still a long way to go before mass funding is achieved; British Lithium currently plans to go into production in 2028. According to Smith, the lithium deposits are of excellent quality – and so large that the company will be able to serve up to a third of the British market. “If we want to have a productive e-mobility market in the UK, we need to provide the key ingredients ourselves,” he says.
British government gives direction
The British government also sees it that way. In the summer of 2022, Great Britain presented a “Critical Minerals Strategy” intended to strengthen domestic production and diversify supply chains. “We must ensure access to important minerals, also to guarantee that our production sector runs,” says Nusrat Ghani, State Secretary for Trade and Industry.
While many of Cornwall’s projects welcome the initiative, they would like to see more concrete action from the government. Nevertheless, the publication of the strategy alone has resulted in significantly more interest from investors in Cornwall, says Frances Wall, professor at the Camborne School of Mine in Exeter. “It’s been very easy until now to rely on a few mines in a few countries,” she says. However, this dependency carries the risk that the supply chains could be interrupted in one fell swoop.
Gaps in the complex supply chain
Complex supply chains are the sore point of the plan for greater independence. Because even if the mining projects get off to a successful start in the next few years, this is only the beginning. In order to use metals such as tin and lithium in factories, both materials must be further processed. This intermediate step cannot yet take place in Great Britain. Richard Williams plans to send his tin to smelters in Southeast Asia, while Andrew Smith plans to export the lithium carbonate to Europe to be converted into cathode active material.
And the back part of the supply chain is far from secure either. E-car batteries are mostly manufactured in Asia. A large battery factory is currently being planned in Great Britain. The parent company of the car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover wants to produce in Somerset from 2026. Tin, in the form of solder, usually only reaches consumers in the UK in the end product, such as a smartphone manufactured abroad.
“The enthusiasm is growing”
“We will probably never be completely independent,” says mining expert Wall. “But we can still improve when it comes to extracting our own raw materials.” In addition to geopolitics, control over working conditions and environmental factors are also important arguments for domestic production.
Great Britain will probably not be able to get rid of its dependence on other countries so quickly. For the mining project managers in Cornwall, however, the prospect of lucrative mineral extraction and corresponding returns predominates. “The enthusiasm is constantly growing,” says Williams, and not just among his colleagues. It would also mean a lot to the people of Cornwall to see the old mines back in operation soon.