British Lithium: British Lithium has patent pending for sustainable process to extract lithium from granite

A sustainable way of extracting lithium has been developed by Cornwall-based British Lithium Limited, following three years of research and development. The company has filed a patent application at the UK Intellectual Property Office for its low-energy, chemical-free process for physically separating the mica in granite that contains lithium. The invention, called Mi-Sep, now has official 'patent pending' status, the company revealed in a statement on Friday. Helped by dedicated lithium metallurgical research laboratory, British Lithium has identified a resource of over 100mln tonnes of lithium in a former china clay mine near St Austell, which would be enough to support projected annual production of 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate. The company is building a £3mln pilot plant nearby to produce battery-grade lithium. After Innovate UK funded part of the necessary research and development work and Innovate UK Edge provided legal expertise to file the patent application, British Lithium chief executive Andrew Smith said the company was very grateful for the government support and funding. "Our Mi-Sep process for extracting and concentrating lithium-mica from Cornish granite reduces the mass requiring subsequent treatment by 80% without use of chemicals and is therefore significantly more sustainable than other existing methods," he said. "We have a number of breakthrough technologies for extracting lithium from mica and anticipate further patent applications in the near future. "Our aim has always been to develop lithium production with the lowest environmental footprint possible and that's why the new technology we are patenting is powered by renewable energy." A million pounds worth of bespoke equipment has already been ordered and the plant should be operational in early 2022. The British Lithium UK Patent Pending application number is GB2106456.3.