Northern Lithium signals major step towards commercial production of UK lithium as latest test results exceed expectations

Announces £6 million fundraising programme for installation and trialling of an in-field demonstration plant and the drilling of further boreholes

DURHAM, England, Sept. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Northern Lithium Ltd (Northern Lithium or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed a 30-day lithium brine pump testing programme, a further step forward to proving the commercial viability of its lithium-in-brines development project in the Northeast of England.  The tests, which were conducted at two litres per second, also provided indications of long-term yields significantly in excess of the Company's own production modelling at commercially viable flow rates of 30 litres per second.

Having further demonstrated proof of concept for the project, over the next twelve months Northern Lithium will now proceed with key next steps towards commercialisation, including:

• the installation and trialling of an in-field Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) demonstration plant,
• the delivery of a new 60-day pump test at significantly higher flow rates,
• the drilling of further production capable and feasibility boreholes in 2025, and
• the preparation and submission of major applications for planning and permitting.

Northern Lithium has been funded to date largely by private investors alongside UK Government support through a feasibility study grant from the Automotive Transformation Fund, run by the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK. To achieve these new milestones, the Company will be raising in the region of £6 million, commencing with an initial tranche to accelerate the near-term DLE demonstration plant trials and further pump tests.  Funds will be raised from a combination of strategic, high net worth and, for the first time, retail investors via a Crowdcube offering, reflecting the fact that the project has now been significantly de-risked. Further details will be provided in due course.

The 30-day continuous testing process, utilising two existing boreholes drilled by Northern Lithium, successfully demonstrated the achievement of a number of key milestones:

• it proved the consistent presence of commercially viable concentrations of lithium, at sustained and significantly high flow rates, throughout the testing period,
• it showed a steady increase in abstracted brine temperature as the tests progressed, providing further evidence that the brines are being recharged from depth, and
• it demonstrated the ability to simultaneously abstract and re-inject lithium brines using separate boreholes, providing a pathway to delivering a viable closed loop lithium brine processing system, maintaining the status quo in the deep groundwater system, and meeting all environmental requirements.

Nick Pople, Northern Lithium Managing Director, said, "The results of the 30-day test programme mark a major milestone for Northern Lithium and are a first for the UK lithium sector as a whole, delivering proof of concept that our lithium brines can be abstracted and successfully reinjected using a pair of nearby boreholes.  With a clear path to commercialisation now demonstrated, we remain confident in meeting our goal to achieve first commercial production from 2027 and within the next decade scale up to in excess of 10,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium delivered per year from production sites across the Northern Pennine Orefield.  The fundraising programme we are announcing today will provide us with the runway we require to further develop the business and move significantly nearer to commercial production."

It is forecast that the UK will need up to 80,000 tonnes of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) per year by 2030 and as much as 135,000 tonnes per year by 2040.  The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK said in its Q1 2024 Quarterly Automotive Demand Forecast (June 2024) that Electric Vehicle (EV) production in the UK is expected to top one million per annum between 2030 and 2035 creating a demand for over 100 GWh of automotive batteries from just 7GWhs of demand in 2023.   

Julian Hetherington, Director, Automotive Transformation at Advanced Propulsion Centre UK said, "I'm delighted to see the significant progress made by Northern Lithium following support from the Automotive Transformation Fund.  We hope that this project will play an important part in the UK meeting its potential to become self-sufficient in battery-grade lithium, supporting the UK's green growth ambitions.  Low impact, resilient critical minerals supply and processing are key elements in the UK's Critical Minerals and Battery Strategies."

Battery requirements for grid scale energy storage are also increasing exponentially, adding to the supply chain pressure for lithium.  Forecasts suggest global demand for lithium-ion batteries for grid scale energy storage could overtake EVs by 2050.  The National Grid ESO, the electricity system operator for Great Britain, is forecasting that the UK will need nearly 200GWh of energy storage by 2050 against 4.6GWh of operational grid-scale battery energy storage capacity at the end of 2023.

Located next to the Northeast of England's growing cluster of gigafactories and EV manufacturing hubs, Northern Lithium has up to 45 years' exclusive development, appraisal and production rights covering mineral rights owned by the Church Commissioners for England across circa. 240 sq kms (60,000 acres), of the North Pennine Orefield.  The Company is at the forefront of delivering a secure, sustainable domestic supply of lithium at scale for the UK, using UK sourced lithium brines, UK developed advanced DLE (Direct Lithium Extraction) technology and UK process engineering expertise.  Northern Lithium recently signed a contract with UK advanced technology filtration specialists Evove Ltd who will install and trial the demonstration plant incorporating their membrane DLE technology.

Jeff Townsend, Founder, Critical Minerals Association, said, "Given the rapid electrification of the UK economy that we will see over the next decade, it is imperative that the UK secures a reliable and sustainable supply of lithium to power clean technologies.  Northern Lithium's promising test results and plans to reach commercial production puts them in a strong position to be one of the leaders in the UK domestic lithium production sector for decades to come."

Northern Lithium

Established in 2017, Northern Lithium is a privately-owned innovative critical minerals development company, based in County Durham, Northeast of England, focused on delivering a secure domestic supply of lithium from the North East for UK gigafactories and the UK's electric vehicle and power storage industries, using sustainable extraction and production techniques.

www.northernlithium.co.uk