Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Imerys and British Lithium Strategic Partnership webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please be advised that today's webcast is being recorded. I would now like to hand the webcast over to our speaker today, Alessandro Dazza, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Thank you, good morning to all of you, and thanks, first of all, for joining us today with such a short notice for an important announcement. We are proud and happy to announce that Imerys will form with British Lithium, a joint venture with the objective of creating the U.K.'s first integrated producer of battery-grade lithium carbonate. The venture will rely on Imerys' large lithium deposit in Cornwall, on our experience, on our scale and expertise in developing large mineral extraction and transformation projects. We confirm we have found more than 160 million tons of inferred resources at 0.54% lithium oxide, giving confidence of a life of mine exceeding 30 years, and I will come back on this. British Lithium will bring its bespoke lithium processing technology, its technical team, and a brand-new pilot plant.
Cornwall, as a consequence, would become the leading lithium hub in the U.K., with target production of 20,000 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent per year, enough to equip the equivalent of 500,000 electric cars per year by the end of the decade. The project will include a quarry, a beneficiation plant, and a conversion unit, all together co-located on the Imerys existing site, and will adapt the highest social and sustainability standards, including the IRMA standard, which is today definitely the international reference for responsible mining. If you combine the British Lithium project that we are announcing today with a project in France, which we have called EMILI, the two of them combined will make Imerys the leading lithium producer in Europe, accounting for more than 20% of the projected planned 2030 European production capacity.
Few words, let me remind you a few words on lithium: It is a key resource for the energy transition. Governments, being the U.K. through their Net Zero Strategy or Europe with the Green Deal, fundamentally, governments are all aligned to the trajectory, which is net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. As far as road transportation, even shorter, 2035, as we know very well. Fuel combustion or internal combustion engines, road transports represent today, depending on the country and the statistics you take, between, I would say, 20%-30% of total CO2 emissions in Europe, in the U.K. Therefore, it is a subject that needs to be addressed. The technology is lithium-ion batteries. It is the key one, and therefore, lithium is a critical mineral for the future. Its demand will grow.
You see on the bottom right, expected in the almost worst-case scenario, sevenfold to 600,000 tons. Other statistics put it even at 1 million tons requirements in Europe by the end of the decade. It would be a key for Europe's independence. Top right, you see the plans in construction or announced battery factories in Europe, a lot, up to 40, 50 by now, EUR 100 billion investments. The future is set, but how do we feed these batteries, these gigafactories? Today, Europe and the U.K. import most of their lithium. Therefore, it becomes a key for the independence of the country. Securing lithium production and supply, it's a matter of sovereignty. The next page you see, I will not go through, some of the programs launched by the U.K. governments around net zero, building back greener, support for battery chain.
It's aligned to what also Europe is doing with the Critical Raw Materials Act and other programs. The alignment is there. The U.K. government will support electrification and the battery supply chain. The last two bullet points I would like to highlight for a moment because they are quite new. The Atlantic Declaration, very recent, will make, once implemented, the U.K. comparable to a domestic supplier to the U.S., therefore the IRA U.S. program will consider supplies from the U.K. as their own domestic, with all the advantages that this will bring. Secondly, the main market for the U.K. automotive industry is Europe, and to export into Europe tariff-free, vehicles will need 55% local content, and tomorrow, 65% for battery cell. Having an integrated supply chain and industry in the U.K. will be a key. Our project plays exactly in this direction.
Let me tell you a bit more about the project. On the next slide, you see the two partners that join forces. On the left side is Imerys. I said what we bring is, to the joint venture, is our lands, our deposit, our lithium deposit, our experience, our know-how in scaling up, building large project, large mines, and a footprint in Cornwall, where we, and you will see in the next slide, where we today employ between 800 and 900 people, 25 years of history in the area. On the right, British Lithium, started from two entrepreneurs that have already built similar projects in the past, in different minerals around the world. They have developed a unique technology. They've built a state-of-the-art plant, plus their entrepreneurship will create, I think...
The partnership will really, everybody contributes to this partnership, the best of the two sides, for me, a guarantee of future success. As said, a snapshot on what Imerys is today in the U.K., about 1,100 direct employees, probably two times as much indirect, around GBP 300 million revenues. Most of it, as you can see on the bottom of the boxes, most of it in Cornwall. This is our home turf. This is where we play a big role. Cornwall is a place of mining. Cornwall is almost 300 years of mining history. Tin and copper before. Since 200 years, clay, china clay, exported everywhere in the world, even into China. The quality of this product is unique. Today, we mine around 1 million tons.
We mine and sell and export around 1 million tons per year, 800-900 people, strong infrastructure. In general, a strong infrastructure: roads, ports, gas lines, electrical lines, everything available on site, a power grid that is up to 50% renewable. Local community that has a strong heritage in mining, schools that create great mining geologists and engineers, so the best background or the best basis to build a successful project. A word on British Lithium, on the next slide. Created in 2017, started drilling and analyzing the content and the quality of lithium in the ground, mostly on Imerys' land, through an agreement we have reached at that time. They developed a specific process, very environmental friendly, very cost competitive, 7 U.K. patents, 2 international ones filed and pending.
They built a state-of-the-art pilot plant that I hope one day to be able to show you, 'cause today this plant produces lithium, battery-grade lithium, every day in kilos, so clear, a great starting point for the project. They received support at a very early stage from the U.K. government through the Innovate U.K. Fund, most dedicated to R&D and piloting. I think it was very important, because it allowed them to start, I think the result of this investment is in front of us today. If you now combine what we have in France, 34,000 tons of hydroxide, 20,000 tons of carbonate.
In the U.K., potentially tomorrow, so 50+ thousand tons of lithium carbonate hydroxide production in Europe, will make Imerys by far the largest producer in the continent, covering more than 20% of the announced future capacities. Not only the two projects will carry significant synergies, both of them are based on granite, on Mica. The pilot, the local pilot plant, the future industrial pilot we will build, both will help each project to advance more rapidly, with higher efficiency, and of course, with a reduced cost. Last but not least, both will follow the IRMA standards, and we will be built using the highest environmental and social standards. Few words on the specific projects here. It is a brownfield, so the granite lays below an exhausted kaolin pit, so large deposit on the surface.
We will simply continue mining what is today our quarry which is empty from kaolin, but full of rocks, granite, Mica, lithium. We will use an electric mining fleet, as we plan to do in France. We will build everything on site: the mine, the beneficiation or separation plant, and the full conversion unit, with very low strip ratio, because the deposit is really on the surface. A very high beneficiation recovery, thanks to the innovative technology that British Lithium has developed using sustainable power, thanks to the energy mix in the region. All factors for success. Timing, we have just joined forces, so it's a very preliminary timetable you have there, but we do expect about 12 to 15 months for the pre-feasibility study.
The same time to run the full engineering of the big scale plant, which will lead us to a commissioning and a production start before the end of the decade, will it be 2028, maybe 2029. In parallel to what we are doing in France, the two will be pretty much aligned. Let me conclude. This is the very same slide you saw at the beginning, so we'll not go through again. The message I'm saying is we have here an incredible opportunity to produce lithium in the U.K., to integrate the value chain in this country, and to make Imerys really a player in the energy transition, a partner of choice in the electrical mobility, and the largest producer in Europe of lithium. Thank you very much, and of course, I'm available for questions.
Thank you. As a reminder, if you do wish to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. We will take our first question. The question comes from the line of Sven Edelfelt from ODDO BHF. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yes. Sorry, I apologize for this. Can you hear me?
Yes, very well, Sven.
Yes, sorry about that. Three question, if I may, from my side. Congratulations first for this announcement. That's a very good news. The first question, I would like to know, how did you decide on the dimension of a mine? Why 20K annual production? Why not more? My understanding is that there is at least 3.3 million ton of lithium around your quarries. That's the first question. Second one would be on the transaction price with British Lithium. Can you give us more flavor about this transaction? How did you come to 80%, 20%? Was it on, let's say, asset base? In that case, what were the CapEx spent for from British Lithium so far, or on EBITDA?
Can you give us some metric here? That's the second question. The third question is very quick. If you are using the pilot project in Beauvoir, why are you not coming to production earlier?
Thank you, Sven. I will address all three. Why 20,000 tons? As we discussed for EMILI, when you launch a mining and conversion project of this size, being lithium or others, you want to have ahead of you, at least in this industry, we say at least 20-25 years, because of the complexity, the time required, and the CapEx. That's a typical, let's say, rule of thumb in the mining world. When we started the investigation in EMILI, we assessed that that should be the size of the deposit, and if you recall what we have communicated, we said 25 years is guaranteed, and that's why we sized the plant at 30,000, which is also a typical size in the lithium world.
Here, what our partner has done until yesterday, and we are taking over now the leadership in this, in this company, in this joint venture, so we will do our own analysis going forward. They have done a similar thing. Based on the drilling results, they have assessed around 30 years, and therefore, the proper size is 20,000 tons to guarantee the Life of mine. It's a combination of the two. As for EMILI, they have not stopped drilling. British Lithium is not stopping the drilling because the deposit continues. We might reassess, true. Today, the knowledge puts the right size at 20,000 to guarantee the duration and the CapEx is a good compromise. We might revisit. I feel quite comfortable in saying, 20,000 is a good size production.
The second on the transaction, the two parties contributed assets and know-how and intellectual property, so there is no monetary or economic movement or monetary movement or transaction. It's a contribution. It is the result of a negotiation, so there is no, let's say, asset base. There is not a mathematical calculation. We bring land, where to build the plant. We bring the resources, which are ours. We bring our know-how and expertise in scaling up and knowledge. We bring our infrastructure. We make available our infrastructure in Cornwall. British Lithium brings six years of work, all the results of their drillings, a pilot plant which is up and running successfully, produces lithium and some IP. The parties have agreed that the proper valuation is 80/20.
No numbers have been disclosed to attach to this, to 20 and 80. There is no EBITDA valuation. The company has never created EBITDA because it's still in the development phase without sales. Last comment on the pilots. Here we have the lab pilot scale. I mean, it's a building, but it still produces kilos. What we will do in Beauvoir, it's an industrial pilot. It will produce hundreds of tons per year on industrial equipment for homologation and for testing the technology. It's nice to have both, but one does not substitute the other. What British Lithium does here on site, today, we do outside with partners in laboratories around the world, it's lab. You need typically a industrial pilot, and then you build the big one.
I believe great synergies, because one day we will have both, and I'm sure EMILI will profit from having here this pilot. British Lithium will profit tomorrow from having an industrial pilot in France, and I think both will accelerate thanks to this. Does it mean that we will be faster than 2028? It's tough, because there is studies, there is engineering, and we're talking about hundreds of millions of EUR CapEx. There will be a construction time. Accelerating above this, and a permitting in parallel, which we assume will happen. Accelerating farther, it's a challenge today, at least today, where we stand today.
Okay. Thank you. On what's the CapEx for Cornwall to deploy?
As you have seen, when in the...
Or-
No, as you have seen in the press release, we have not published the number because we are not there yet. There are estimations made by British Lithium. We would like to have a better understanding and progress a bit farther with our pre-feasibility study before we mention a number. What I can say is EMILI, 30,000 tons, EUR 1 billion, or slightly above EUR 1 billion. Here we are at 20,000 tons, so you can do your proportions. It will probably be a bit bigger because there is less concentration, so you will need more machinery to reach a ton of lithium. It will be a bit easier because you have no underground, you have no transportation, no canalization, no train loading, so it will be all on one location.
It will be definitely easier and cheaper to build per unit, although with a lower concentration. You can do your proportions and you will not be very wrong, I'm sure.
Okay, thank you very much.
Thank you. We will take our next question. Please stand by. Your next question comes from the line of Aron Ceccarelli from Berenberg. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Oh, hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. My first one is on CapEx. When I look at Imerys' CapEx for the next year, you clearly have the ramp-up of the synthetic graphite, carbon black, plus the CapEx from Imerys. You said you are open to financial partners for Beauvoir. Would you be open as well for our financial partners in order to offload some of this CapEx when it comes to the Cornwall project?
Aron, thank you. Definitely, yes. I mean, as you correctly said, there is a Imerys, which has its own development, its own growth, needs its own CapEx, and it has an avenue of growth, which is fast. Carbon black, synthetic graphite for the same industry, batteries, and one day we might discuss the next step in new plants, probably in Asia. This can be financed out of the, let's say, running business. We have a great project in France and now another one in the U.K. that are very large and will require a dedicated, specific financing. You're right, we are considering seriously to open the door to a partner in France as well as in the U.K.. My preference would be the same one, to avoid any competition between the two projects. We will consider options as they arise.
It will depend a lot, as I said, for France, the same is valid for the U.K.. It will depend a lot on which kind of support the governments will make available. These are strategic projects for the countries. Europe is moving, France will, let's say, adjust to the general decisions of in Europe. U.K. is a bit more independent, we will see. We're not there yet. We have to finalize our studies. We have to understand what we need. Discussions will follow, based on these results, is one of the variable in the equation, partner, government, and investment. Definitely, also for the U.K., we will open the door to partnering.
Thank you. My second question is on cost. I remember you targeting 7-9 EUR per kilo in Beauvoir. Would it be possible to have a ballpark here for Cornwall as well, please?
Aron, we do not publish because, again, we are not there yet. We need to do a bit more studies to assess and finalize the technological study, as a consequence, you will have your costs. If I can comment from a qualitative point of view, on the negative sides, compared to France, you have a lower concentration, and therefore, by definition, you will need more resources, more energy, more processing to reach 1 ton of lithium carbonate. You have some significant advantages because you are in an open pit, so you're in a quarry, much cheaper in terms of processing costs. Everything will be on site, separation, conversion, which again, will bring an advantage to this project. I believe it will be very competitive, for sure in Europe, but in general, on the cost curve.
Too early to give you a number, but I am quite excited on the potential of this project.
Excellent. Thank you very much, guys. Good luck.
Thank you, Aron.
Thank you. We will take our next question. Your next question comes from the line of Jean-Christophe Liaubet from Exane BNP Paribas. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yes. Good morning. [Foreign language]. Just a detail, I'm not based at Exane BNP Paribas, but at CC, just to correct this mistake. Second issue, this project with British Lithium, there is an issue with the homologation proceed. Could you be maybe more specific on this matter? What is different with France? Is that easier or more difficult? How much time does it takes? Many thanks.
I hope I interpret your question correctly. If not, please ask me again. Homologation by battery makers and car makers, I think every single project or mine in the world will need its own homologation. In the car industry, homologation is a key, and therefore, even if it's the same rock, the same technology, potentially one day, made in France, made in the U.K., there will be a separate independent homologation needed for sure. It's a must in the industry.
Scuzi, Alessandro. The homologation targeted the permitting with the government, both in France.
Okay, in terms of permitting.
In terms of permitting, sorry .
It is, it is different in the two countries. In particular, I would say in France today, lithium extraction is considered a mine, and therefore will require a specific permission, which is ca lled concession. It is a more, it's a longer process and a bit more complex. Second topic, in France, you will need a CNDP, Commission nationale du débat public. You will need a public discussions, which is fine, but will take some time. These are, I would say, the next steps. And then you will need a building permit, but this is a more standard for every industry. Specifically, on a large mining project, you will have these two steps, concession and CNDP in France.
None of them exist in England. In the U.K., you own the underground, so there is no discussion on concession. As we mine china clay, we will mine lithium in the very same way, so it's easier. There is no CNDP. There will be permits as well as in France, but no CNDP as such. I believe in the sense that the U.K. planning, and permitting process should be easier and faster. However, I believe both countries will support us. Both countries are very interested to make it happen for their own national sovereignty. I do count that permitting will not be bottleneck of these two projects.
Okay, thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will take our next question. The question comes from the line of Mourad Lahmidi from Exane BNP. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yes. Hello, Alessandro. Mourad Lahmidi from BNP Exane. I have three questions: Can you confirm that the scope of the JV covers all lithium operations and not only the U.K.? Second question, could you also confirm that there was no financial transfer as part of the transaction? It's only assets that are being brought to the new entity. Finally, when I look at British Lithium website, they say that they invented the low energy, chemical-free process for physically separating granite that contains lithium. Could you elaborate on that? Give us more detail. What does it mean, low energy, chemical-free? How does it compare to other processes out there? Is it applicable across the two sites? Thank you.
On a scalable basis, of course.
Of course. Murat, thank you very much for the questions. On the first one, no, I will not confirm because it is not true. The joint venture covers exclusively the U.K. project. It's totally separate from our EMILI project in France. Therefore, British Lithium will be only the U.K. project, 80%, EMX is 20% current shareholders, and mostly the Smith family, the founders. On the financing, I confirm what you said, there has been no monetary transaction, no payments, to make it simple, but a contribution of both parties of their assets into the joint venture to make it happen. The third topic, which is technical, it is true, now that we have access, full access to the pilot plant and to their technologies. They have...
First of all, let's say, the message is to compare mostly to Asian productions, which use acid attack, and a lot of energy. The process here has one big advantage. They have developed a magnetic separation, no chemicals at all, and a low temperature dissolution of lithium in water. No chemicals, low energy, and a magnetic separation, which is a very cheap, intelligent, simple technology. Can you use it elsewhere? If I look at our projects in France, part of it is very similar. We do not use acids to dissolve lithium, but we use also low temperature and water leaching.
On the magnetic separation, this part might not be totally usable because it depends if you have some magnetic elements in your lithium, and so far, we don't believe there is this kind of presence in the Massif Central in France. Most of it is the same. One specific step might be a bit different. Largely, we will. That's why we see a lot of synergies. Largely, will be the very same process.
Okay, thank you. And you have, you already have a good view on whether this process is scalable on large volumes, or is it too soon to say?
To be honest, it's a bit too soon. I've been through the plant all day yesterday, the pilot plant. I invite people on the phone today to organize a visit because it's impressive. You really see a crushed rock at the entrance. You go home with a kilo of lithium in your pocket. It's impressive. It really produces kilos per day. It's battery grade. It's usable as it is without further processing or, What I've seen gives me a lot of confidence. I've not seen any machine in the pilot plant that is extremely complex, extremely precise. I've been through a lot of lab facilities. I know when you work with the precision of a laboratory, difficult to scale up large and thousands of tons. I've not seen today anything that scares me. It's lab scale.
It's simple machines, many handmade or made in, from artisans around here. It looks like there is a very strong hope to scale it up easily. I'm very excited about what these people have developed.
Okay, sounds good. Thank you very much, Alessandro.
Thank you. We will take our next question. You have a follow-up question from the line of Sven Edelfelt from ODDO BHF. Please go ahead, your line is open.
Yes. Thank you for taking my question again. Apologize, Alessandro, but I, I would have liked to ask another question, not on lithium, but I will try my chance. I think there has been a hearing yesterday in the court regarding the asbestos issue. Can you maybe tell us if there has been some positive development there?
Sven, I, No, I don't have any further news. The mediation is continuing. There are small steps in the right direction, meaning find an agreement between the different law firms on what they wish. We are not at this mediation table because the agreement with us for the time being stands and is not in discussions in any of these terms and conditions. It's a bit disappointing that it takes so long, but it's mostly due really to the distraction caused by the Johnson & Johnson ups and down changes, refusal, approval. I see that really as the main impact on the slow progress. I don't have any specific, really, neither good, no, but also not bad news at the moment, Sven. Unfortunately, no.
Thank you very much. Very helpful.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced.
Very good. Thank you all for listening to us today and for your interested questions. Once again, to remind, I see here an opportunity, a great opportunity. It's not tomorrow, it's down the road. We need to do our job in terms of engineering and studies. We have to find the proper financing structure for it. We have to collaborate with public institution and governments to secure the, the value chain in the country. But once again, I think we have in our hands an incredible opportunity for the future. Thank you very much, and talk to you soon. Goodbye.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.