Mineral exploration firm Cornish Lithium has appointed a new non-executive director to its board. Gary Steven has joined the business as a representative of the government’s National Wealth Fund (formerly the UK Infrastructure Bank).
The finance professional currently serves as a director on the NWF’s portfolio management team. He previously worked at multinational investment firm BlackRock where he led the valuation of the company’s infrastructure investments across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), North America and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
The NWF, owned by HM Treasury, is a key institutional investor in Cornish Lithium, alongside TechMet and The Energy & Minerals Group.
Non-executive director Adam Howard will step down from Cornish Lithium’s board with immediate effect following his appointment as chief financial officer at Invinity Energy Systems.
Jeremy Wrathall, founder, interim chairman and chief executive of Cornish Lithium, said: “I am delighted to welcome Gary and look forward to working with him. His financial skills will further strengthen our board as we continue to develop our dynamic portfolio of projects to create value for all of our stakeholders. I also extend my thanks to Adam for his contributions as a non-executive director and wish him every success in his new role.”
In October, Cornish Lithium announced the opening of its demonstration facility near St Austell. The plant will produce lithium hydroxide, key for making batteries for electric vehicles and other technology, from granite extracted from an old China clay pit.
It is part of Cornish Lithium’s Trelavour Hard Rock project, which aims to produce 10,000 tonnes of sustainable domestic lithium a year by 2027, to reduce reliance on importing carbon-intensive materials from places such as China.
The company says the demonstration plant will confirm, at a semi-industrial scale, the viability of extracting lithium from rock in Cornwall.
Trelavour Hard Rock has been designated as a “nationally significant” infrastructure project by the government. In Cornwall specifically, it is forecast that Cornish Lithium will contribute a GVA of at least £800m to the local economy and create over 300 Cornwall-based jobs from 2027 over the life of the project.