Cornish Lithium, the mineral exploration and development company headquartered at the Tremough Innovation Centre in Penryn, was featured on the BBC’s Countryfile programme on Sunday (February 5).

In a programme entitled “Underground Britain”, viewers saw presenter Tom Heap visiting Cornish Lithium’s geothermal sites at United Downs and Twelveheads, as well as the Company’s Trelavour Project, near St Dennis, to discover how lithium mining could herald what’s described as “a new gold rush for Cornwall”.

“An environmentally-sustainable domestic supply of lithium is an essential component of the UK’s transition to renewable energy and the manufacture of electric vehicles, and we were pleased to share our progress with BBC Countryfile for a second time,” explained Mike Round, head of geothermal lithium at Cornish Lithium.

“At United Downs and Twelveheads, we demonstrated how we extract lithium from geothermal waters in the most environmentally-responsible way possible and shared the company’s ambition to contribute to a secure, domestic supply of lithium for the UK, revive Cornwall’s mining heritage and create highly-skilled, well-paid careers for local people.”

Cornish Lithium’s sustainability manager, Lucy Crane, further expounded the community benefits of the company’s projects, the importance of outreach events to keep local people in the loop and the need to responsibly extract the critical minerals needed for the energy transition as she accompanied Tom on a tour of the Trelavour site.

This is where Cornish Lithium plans to extract lithium from hard rock, in an area that is known, historically, for its china clay industry.

The programme is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.