Weardale Lithium secures £700k funding for geothermal lithium project in County Durham, UK

Former cement works site at Weardale, County Durham, UK (source: Weardale Lithium)

Carlo Cariaga 10 Apr 2026

Weardale Lithium has secured a £700,000 grant from the UK Government’s DRIVE35 Scale Up: Feasibility Studies competition to support the next phase of development of its geothermal lithium project in County Durham, UK.

Using the grant funding, Weardale will now undertake a detailed feasibility study to evaluate its geothermal lithium-bearing brinefield within the North Pennine Orefield. The study will inform the wellfield design and commercial production, and will be instrumental in de-risking the commercial deployment of Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology at the project site.

In 2023, the company announced the successful extraction of lithium carbonate from geothermal brine at a former cement works site at County Durham. In 2024, the company submitted a planning application for the phased construction of a lithium extraction plant at the site. According to the application, the facility will produce about 10,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year at full commercial production. The planning permission was granted by February 2025.

The £0.7m feasibility study project will help refine and de-risk the approach taken for wellfield scale-up to cashflow positive production. One of the goals for this project phase is to define fracture networks hosting lithium-bearing brines. The interpretation will be utilised to refine the existing 3D geological model and optimise wellfield development for future commercial production.

By advancing subsurface characterisation and technical modelling, the feasibility study represents an important step towards establishing a domestic source of battery-grade lithium carbonate, reducing reliance on imported raw materials and strengthening the resilience of the UK’s EV manufacturing base.

Source: Insider Media and Investing.com