Cornwall, one of the poorest corners of northern Europe, is set for boom times due to its critical mineral deposits. The region's output per head has been roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of the UK average for two decades, and a typical full-time worker earns around 84% of the national wage.
For 25 years, the gap was cushioned by over £1 billion in EU structural funds between 2000 and 2020. That money has gone, its replacement is worth roughly half as much, and from April 2026 the successor to that replacement excludes Cornwall altogether.
However, the region also has hard-rock lithium and tin deposits, the largest tungsten resource in the West, Britain's first deep geothermal power station and a mineral-processing industry with two centuries of pedigree. Forty miles away in Bridgwater, Somerset, Tata's Agratas is building a £4 billion, 40GWh factory that will be the largest in the country.
China accounts for about 80% of world tungsten mined production. From February 2025 it placed tungsten under export licensing on national security grounds and by late 2025 had restricted authorised exporters to around 15 firms for 2026 and 2027. Ammonium paratungstate went from roughly $300 to $940 per metric tonne unit in early 2025 to above $3,000 by this spring.
Activity on the ground includes Cornish Lithium seeking regulatory permission to develop a former china clay pit at Trelavour and pulling lithium from geothermal brine at Cross Lanes. Cornish Metals is developing South Crofty, aiming at production in around 2028. Geothermal Engineering's plant at United Downs delivered the UK's first deep geothermal electricity in February this year, with lithium carbonate coming from the same well. Tungsten West at Hemerdon is hoping to start production by the end of this year.
In February this year, Imerys placed its St Austell lithium project on hold. The French state had just taken a €50 million stake in Imerys's rival venture in France, Emili. The National Wealth Fund has put £31 million into Cornish Lithium and £28 million into Cornish Metals.