Shareholders of mining company Cornish Lithium have approved an £18m “transformational” investment package from a leading technology metals investor.
Investors holding more than 89% of the innovative mineral exploration and development company’s issued share capital voted in favour of the transaction.
Following the receipt of shareholder approval and in accordance with the subscription agreement, the company has received £9m of funds for the first tranche of the investment package. As a result, Cornish Lithium now has a current cash balance of more than £12m.
Jeremy Wrathall, chief executive and founder of Cornish Lithium, said: “We are delighted to have received such an overwhelming level of support from our shareholders for the TechMet investment.
“We will be able to utilise the funds the TechMet investment will provide to materially advance our portfolio of projects for the benefit of all shareholders.
“It is pleasing to see that the vast majority of our shareholders have recognised this and voted in favour of the transaction.”
The Cornwall-headquartered company has called the injection from TechMet Ltd a significant step forward for the business which will allow it to advance its mission to create a domestic supply of lithium and other battery metals for the UK.
The investment represents a key milestone for the company given that it is the first investment Cornish Lithium has secured from a financial institution.
Cornish Lithium said it expects to benefit from TechMet’s deep knowledge of the battery metals supply chain and extensive commercial and strategic relationships.
TechMet invests in technology metals projects around the world and its funding will enable Cornish Lithium to fast-track development of its project portfolio in Cornwall and to significantly advance the company’s strategy of establishing a domestic supply of battery metals.
The investment will occur in two tranches: The first tranche of £9m has been invested upon receipt of shareholder approval and the second tranche of £9m will be invested, at the option of TechMet, following the delivery of the Scoping Study for the Trelavour Hard Rock Project, which is on track for completion in Q2 2022.
The funding package will enable the company to significantly accelerate its projects including the construction of a beneficiation and hydrometallurgical demonstration plant that will enable the company to optimise the low-carbon Lepidico processing technology to which Cornish Lithium secured a 15-year royalty free licence in 2020. It will also enable progress towards feasibility studies for the Trelavour Project, which will enable the company to progress construction plans and to seek necessary finance to build the Trelavour Project and move towards commercial production.
The cash will also pay for the drilling of additional geothermal evaluation boreholes and developing associated direct lithium extraction sites to further demonstrate Cornwall’s prospectivity for lithium contained in geothermal waters. The company will also progress studies into the possibility of using heat from these boreholes to decarbonise local industries in Cornwall.
TechMet was founded in 2017 with the aim of developing assets that produce metals for which global demand is expected to outweigh supply as the world moves to clean energy technologies. Its assets include Li-Cycle Corp – North America’s largest lithium-ion battery recycling company listed on the NYSE; Brazilian Nickel – a mining and extraction company developing production of nickel and cobalt suitable for EV batteries; US Vanadium – which produces vanadium products suitable for redox flow batteries; and Tinco – a portfolio of producing tin and tungsten mines.
.jpg?w=600)
