TVL to Establish Qualification & Validation Centre

Alkemy Capital Investments plc ("Alkemy") (LSE: ALK) (JV2:FRA), the 100% owner of Tees Valley Lithium Ltd ("TVL"), is pleased to announce that, in response to requirements from existing and prospective customers, TVL is establishing a dedicated Qualification and Validation Centre (the "Centre") at the Billingham Chemical Complex, Teesside.

The Centre will allow customers to begin validating TVL’s battery-grade lithium hydroxide in parallel with the development of Train 1, the first 25,000 tonne per year production train of TVL’s lithium hydroxide refinery at Billingham (“Train 1”), shortening the time from first production to full commercial volumes.

Highlights

• Established in response to requirements from existing and prospective customers, including cathode manufacturers, cell manufacturers and OEMs for early access to representative product.
• Customer qualification, which typically takes twelve months in the customer's own production lines, can begin while Train 1 is being developed rather than after first production.
• The Centre replicates the Train 1 process configuration, so customers qualify the same product the refinery will make.
• Expected to shorten the time from first production to full commercial volumes, supporting a faster ramp-up of Train 1.
• Broadens the feedstock TVL can validate, including recycled lithium from TVL’s battery recycling partners.

Qualification and Validation Centre

Battery and cathode manufacturers qualify a new supplier's lithium hydroxide in their own production lines before commercial deliveries begin, a process that typically takes twelve months. For a new refinery, qualification usually starts only once the plant is commissioned and producing, so commercial volumes follow some months after first production.

TVL's recent meetings with existing and prospective customers made clear that early access to representative product would shorten the timeline to full product validation and the start of commercial volumes. Validation can run in parallel with the development of Train 1, so that commercial volumes can begin sooner after first production.

The Centre will be housed in an existing industrial building within the Billingham Chemical Complex. Its sampling line replicates the process configuration of Train 1 using Veolia's process technology, so the product customers test is representative of the product the refinery will make. A customer and visitor area will allow prospective customers and partners to review material and process performance firsthand.

Broader feedstock

The Centre will also allow TVL to validate a wider range of feedstocks, including lithium recovered from TVL's battery recycling partners. Recycled feedstock supports customers' obligations under the EU Battery Regulation, which requires minimum recycled lithium content in new batteries from 2031, with batch-level traceability provided through TVL's partnership with Circulor.

Once complete, the Centre will be able to process samples of lithium carbonate produced at Geothermal Engineering Limited’s (GEL) lithium demonstration plant in Cornwall, refining them to battery grade. This will provide an early demonstration of a domestic Cornwall-to-Teesside lithium supply chain.

Vikki Jeckell, CEO of Tees Valley Lithium, commented:

"Customers told us plainly what they need: our product in their hands, early. The Qualification and Validation Centre delivers that. Qualification now runs alongside the development of the refinery rather than after it, which brings forward the point at which customers can move to commercial volumes. It also lets us test mined, brine and recycled feedstock side by side, and show that UK lithium, including domestic Cornish lithium from GEL, can be refined to battery grade on Teesside."

Paul Atherley, Chairman of Alkemy, commented:

"The UK needs its own lithium-refining industry, and that industry will be built on the confidence of the customers it supplies. The Qualification and Validation Centre brings those customers to Billingham to work with TVL's product firsthand. It is another practical step in building the world-class merchant lithium refinery the United Kingdom needs."