‘The part of Cornwall nobody ever sees’: the hi-tech future for lithium and tin mining
In the second part of our Electric dreams series looking at the UK's automotive battery industry, we visit an area whose industrial past is being revitalised
A foggy, overgrown quarry in a quiet part of Cornwall is a good place to contemplate Britain's industrial past. It is here that miners used steam power, explosives and their own hands to dig out china clay for ceramics. The industry helped to fuel the Industrial Revolution and briefly made Redruth one of the richest places in the UK.
The quarry is also a pretty good place to contemplate Britain's industrial future. Cornish Lithium, a UK startup, is one of a clutch of businesses hoping to revive British mining amid a global scramble for the battery minerals that are crucial for the transition away from fossil fuels.
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