Imerys freezes UK lithium project to focus on France

Imerys has frozen its project to develop lithium production in Britain to focus on a more advanced venture in France, the minerals group said on Thursday.

The Imerys British Lithium project in Cornwall, southwest England, has aimed to produce over 20,000 metric tons annually of lithium carbonate and potentially meet lithium demand for around 500,000 electric vehicles.

Reporting annual results, Imerys said it was placing the project on care and maintenance, suspending active development.

“We realized that managing two projects of this scale in two countries at the same time is a lot,” CEO Alessandro Dazza told reporters on a call. “We are going to focus on France where we’re more advanced.”

Imerys said last week that the French state would invest 50 million euros ($59 million) for a minority stake in the Emili project in central France, which is targeting output of 34,000 tons a year of lithium hydroxide from 2030.

Dazza declined to give a timeline for resuming the British project, which Imerys said remained strategically valuable after the recent completion of a scoping study.

($1 = 0.8500 euros)

(By Gus Trompiz; Editing by Mark Potter)