Newyddion
PhD – Establishing the Battery Mineral Potential of Wales
Posted Tuesday October 27th, 2020, 1:02 pm
Hafren Scientific are delighted to be supporting a PhD on Establishing the Battery Mineral Potential of Wales alongside Cardiff and Durham Universities, the and the British Geological Survey.
We believe this study will be the first to take Welsh battery mineral occurrences (in-situ outcrop & former mine sites), and develop new geo-analytical workflows based on state-of-the-art technologies available at the participating organizations, with a view to contributing to the future UK battery mineral supply chain from mining, processing, refining, and final product traceability.
The UK is facing an unprecedented energy challenge with the recent announcement that all combustion engines (petrol & diesel engines) will be progressively phased out by 2030, and replaced with electric vehicles. Current battery technology solutions require that minerals such as cobaltite (CoAsS), chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), spodumene (LiAl(SiO3)2), pentlandite ((Fe,Ni)9S8), and graphite (C), will all be required for the production of battery metals (Co, Cu, Li, Ni, C), and materials (anode, cathode, electrolyte). And yet world mining statistics all suggest that current known resources will not be enough to supply this anticipated huge demand.
More battery minerals are therefore required to be identified from the UK, Europe, and beyond. Wales has a rich metal mining history, with the extraction of gold, copper, lead and zinc traceable back to Roman times. There is therefore the potential for this region to play an important future role in the supply of minerals, metals, and materials into the UK’s green energy ecosystem and strategic mineral strategy for the UK.
