Alkemy Capital Investments (LSE:ALK) has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Tees Valley Lithium, has received an Offer in Principle for up to £18.3 million in non-dilutive grant funding from the UK Government’s DRIVE35 Automotive Transformation Fund.
The proposed funding will support the first phase of the company’s £185 million lithium refinery project in Billingham, Teesside.
The facility is designed to produce 25,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide annually during its initial phase, with plans to expand production capacity to more than 100,000 tonnes per year.
According to the company, the refinery is expected to contribute more than £2.1 billion to the UK economy over 25 years, including approximately £1 billion within the Tees Valley region.
The project is also expected to support more than 1,700 jobs across construction, supply chain activities and ongoing operations.
Alkemy said binding offtake and feedstock agreements are already in place, alongside technology partnerships supporting the refinery’s development.
At its planned capacity, the facility is expected to account for nearly half of the UK’s targeted domestic lithium capacity by 2035.
The grant remains an Offer in Principle rather than a final funding award. The proposed support would provide non-dilutive capital towards the project’s initial development phase.
Alkemy Capital Investments is a UK-based developer of critical minerals infrastructure. Through Tees Valley Lithium, the company is developing an independent lithium hydroxide refinery at the Billingham chemical cluster, targeting battery-grade materials for the UK and European electric vehicle supply chains.
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