Alkemy Capital Investments - subsidiary TVL gets £18.3 million capital grant funding offer for its lithium refinery in Billingham
Shares in Alkemy Capital Investments (LSE: ALK) have surged by 13% to 350p after the critical minerals investor announced that wholly-owned subsidiary Tees Valley Lithium Ltd (TVL) has received an Offer in Principle for capital grant funding of up to £18.3 million under the UK Government’s DRIVE35 Automotive Transformation Fund. DRIVE35 (Driving Research & Investment in Vehicle Electrification) is a £4 billion programme of capital and R&D funding for the automotive industry to 2035.
TVL is building an £185 million merchant lithium refinery in the Billingham chemical cluster, Teesside, which will refine high value domestic and international feedstock into 25,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium using environmental services company Veolia’s commercially validated process technology - enough to support the production of 550,000 electric vehicles a year from Phase 1, rising beyond 2 million at full capacity. Production will scale to 100,000+ tonnes per annum, resulting in one of Europe’s largest lithium refineries at full capacity.
The offer (which represents non-dilutive funding) is towards Phase 1 of the project and remains subject to final approvals. TVL is working with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade to complete the remaining due diligence and conditions required to access the funding.
Alkemy Capital Investments share price since IPO
The project directly delivers on the UK Critical Minerals Strategy’s objective to build domestic supply chain resilience and security by growing the UK’s competitive advantage in midstream refining, with Phase 1 alone representing nearly half of the Strategy’s 2035 domestic lithium capacity ambition.
Commercial foundations are already in place and include a binding offtake agreement with Glencore; process technology from Veolia; and a feedstock agreement with Wogen Resources.
Over 25 years the project is expected to contribute more than £2.1 billion to the UK economy, including approximately £1 billion in the Tees Valley, supporting more than 1,700 jobs across construction, the supply chain and operations.
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Alkemy Capital Investments is not a corporate client of Optimo Research Ltd.
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