Pilot Scale Production of Lithium from UK Granites; transitioning to an electric vehicle future post Covid-19

BLL has identified a substantial lithium-mica-granite Resource in the UK, but lithium has never been commercially extracted from mica.

Mostly academic work has previously proposed chemical froth flotation of lithium mica and hot sulphuric acid leaching to extract the lithium, which would produce millions of tonnes of contaminated residues. BLL has developed novel technologies for extracting lithium-mica from granite, and for extracting the lithium at low temperatures and neutral pH that don't require toxic chemicals, potentially offering the lowest environmental footprint of any world lithium producer.

We have the UK's only dedicated lithium laboratory, with advanced equipment for comminution, beneficiating, pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Our Pilot Plant will refine and validate our novel technology, eliminate scale-up risk, and produce representative product for testing and validation by potential customers.

In 2020 UK car sales fell 55% for diesel and 39% for petrol, whereas EV sales increased 188% to 29% of total sales. December's largest selling car was the imported Tesla Model 3\.

Carmakers co-locate with battery makers. Just one Gigafactory is currently proposed in UK whereas €60 billion has been invested in electric vehicle manufacture in Europe, including 15 gigafactories under construction. The first EV designed in UK (Jaguar's I-Pace) is made in Austria with Polish batteries.

To transform the whole UK car industry from internal combustion to EVs would require seven Gigafactories. _Benchmark_ predict world demand for lithium carbonate for battery materials to grow from 140,315t in 2020 to 1.74Mt by 2030, requiring significant new production.

The UK Government's "_Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution_" effectively mandates the development of a local lithium-battery supply chain New measures include: • Moving forward the ban on internal combustion only vehicles to 2030;

• £1 billion to support the electrification of UK vehicles and their supply chains, including developing "Gigafactories" to produce the batteries needed at scale; • £1.3 billion to accelerate the roll-out of charging infrastructure; and • £582 million to extend the Plug-in grants.

Subject to successful pilot production, our proposed quarry and refinery would currently offer Europe's only domestic supply of lithium, potentially placing the UK at the forefront of the integrated manufacture of lithium chemicals, batteries and zero-emission vehicles, supporting the green-led recovery of the UK's automotive sector from the dramatic losses due to Covid-19, and the disruptive change from internal combustion to electric mobility.

Our proposed quarry and refinery would alone meet one-third of Britain's requirements.