Lithium, the lightest metal element, is a vital resource for the energy transition. It is used in batteries for EVs and grid-scale energy storage – a single Tesla Model S battery contains 12kg of lithium.

Cornwall happens to be sitting on a massive lithium deposit, prompting former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to describe it as the “Klondike of lithium”. Would-be miners – most notably the companies British Lithium and Cornish Lithium, both based in the county – have descended on the Cornish landscape, poring over old geological maps to search for buried treasure. At present, there is no full-scale operation or any certainty of a full-scale operation. However, pilot projects have yielded encouraging results, and the companies hope that by 2030 they could be extracting thousands of tonnes of lithium every year.

There is sincere hope that this will come to fruition. Cornwall’s mining heritage reaches back to the Bronze Age. Its landscape is so sculpted by...