August Cornish Mining sundowner: memories of Tony Batchelor and more good news on lithium in Cornwall

Thankfully it was a fine evening in Falmouth for last night's sundowner at the Chain Locker, as there was a record turn-out of over 40 to raise our glasses and remember Dr. Tony Batchelor, the "father of Cornish geothermal energy" who died last September (posting of 21st September 2023).  We were joined last night by his son, James Batchelor, to share our memories of Tony, a very modest man but a great scientist.

Here's to Tony! The lady in the front foreground, at her first sundowner, is Lesley Bromley,
wife of the late Alan Bromley, a great friend of Tony

It's always good to welcome new members to the sundowner, and I was pleased that Amanda was able to join me and Barbara last night, as we were joined by Michael Kapembwa, who, like Amanda, was born on the Zambian Copperbelt. Michael graduated from the University of Zambia with a degree in metallurgy and mineral processing. He then worked for NFC Africa Mines in Chambishi before moving to the University of Cape Town for an MSc in chemical engineering. Michael is a Commonwealth Scholar and chose the Camborne School of Mines to research copper recovery from Chingola Refractory Ore for PhD. supervised by Prof. Hylke Glass.

Michael with Amanda, me and Barbara

At last month's sundowner there was good news of Cornish company British Lithium's merger with china clay producer Imerys, and this month there was further great news from Cornish Lithium Ltd, the county's other lithium development company,  with the announcement of a US$67 million initial investment from a group of leading institutional investors led by the UK Infrastructure Bank alongside The Energy & Minerals Group (EMG) and TechMet. In its first direct equity investment, the UK Infrastructure Bank will invest US$30 million into the development of the UK’s critical minerals supply chain with EMG, a US-based private equity fund focused on the energy and minerals sectors, also investing US$30 million. Cornish Lithium’s largest existing institutional shareholder, TechMet, the critical minerals investment company, whose major backers include the US Government's Development Finance Corporation, is investing a further US$7 million, bringing its total investment into Cornish Lithium to US$30m.

Chris Harker, head of exploration, and Mike Round, head of geothermal, of Cornish Lithium Ltd

The funding package is expected to significantly accelerate progress toward the creation of a domestic supply of battery grade lithium compounds, which is crucial to support the scaling up of domestic battery production for electric vehicles and battery energy storage solutions for renewable energy sources. The funding aims to enable Cornwall's development as an industrial cluster for lithium extraction and once in commercial production, Cornish Lithium aims to build its 70-strong Cornwall-based workforce to over 300. Through its Trelavour hard rock mine development (posting of 10 December 2020) in East Cornwall alone, £800 million of economic activity for the local economy could be generated over the expected 20-year mine life. This figure is expected to increase further through development of the company's geothermal waters project in West Cornwall (posting of 18 September 2020). It is also a positive development for the UK’s automotive industry and green industrial revolution. A domestic source of lithium will strengthen the UK’s car manufacturing supply chain and improve its competitiveness whilst reducing the carbon footprint associated with the manufacture of batteries and electric vehicles.

Yesterday was a great sundowner and the next one will be at the Chain Locker on Thursday September 21st from 5.30pm.

@barrywills