The MOU has been signed via HELM’s UK subsidiary LevertonHELM, which is based in Basingstoke.
Under the terms of the MOU, LevertonHELM will initially qualify technical grade lithium carbonate recovered from end-of-life EV batteries and production scrap at Altilium’s recycling facilities in Devon.
This is expected to lead to offtake and tolling agreements for the supply of recycled lithium in the UK.
Stefan Berner Beltrán, principal engineer and lithium raw materials lead at Altilium, said: “This is a great opportunity to support the UK’s efforts to secure such an important mineral for the energy transition. By working together on alternative technologies, we can unlock the most value from domestic urban mining, aiming for greener and more efficient refining processes.” 
Merve Cruz, director of partnerships and strategic sourcing at HELM Energy Materials, added: “Partnering with Altilium is a promising step forward in developing the HELM lithium portfolio. The planned alliance underlines our focus on specialised solutions and the much-needed approach of recycling existing resources to support a sustainable supply chain for lithium, especially in Europe and the UK.”
The partnership said it hopes to reduce the UK’s reliance on imported raw materials and support the transition to a greener economy.
Altilium has a focus on the recovery of battery materials from electric vehicles and recently announced £4 million in investment from Japanese trading and investment group Marubeni.
Currently the UK is dependent on the global lithium market, with China responsible for the refining of 60 to 70% of lithium found in EV batteries.
Altilium’s recently opened ACT2 recycling facility in Plymouth has capacity to recover lithium and other battery metals from 300kg of black mass waste (the equivalent of one EV battery) per day.
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