Good news has come to Teesside over the last couple of weeks, in the form of two battery materials start-ups selecting the area for their new facilities. Teesside, historically a heavily industrialised area, now has a high unemployment rate; according to the Office for National Statistics, Middlesbrough has the ninth-highest unemployment rate in Britain.

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The Teesside newcomers, Green Lithium and Altilium Metals, will bring a host of new opportunities to the area. Green Lithium, backed by Trafigura, one of the world’s leading independent commodity trading and logistics houses, has chosen Teesport for its new £600 million lithium refinery. This project will create around 1,000 opportunities during construction and is set to have 250 permanent positions upon completion. Altilium Metals has announced that it will build a recycling facility in the area too. This project is looking to create a further 200 roles for the region.

Green Lithium’s project is also set to put Teesside on the map, as its new facility will be the UK’s first large-scale merchant lithium refinery and the first merchant lithium refinery outside of Asia. According to Business Secretary Grant Shapps, this project will help “grow the new, green industries across the UK, sparking jobs and growth for decades to come.”

Altilium Metals’ new Teesside base will also be its first UK recycling plant. The new location will help turn battery waste into useful materials for new power packs. The company recently secured £3 million in Government funding to boost its process of extracting useful metals from spent batteries, that would have otherwise gone to landfill.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Electric vehicles have a big role to play in our low-carbon future, but there are still significant advances that need to be made to ensure their production is as clean and efficient as possible. Altilium Metals’ recycling technology can help play a massive part in this… This latest announcement will help cement our expertise and status as a fantastic place to do business, helping to attract more firms in the cleaner, safer and healthier industries of tomorrow, while creating hundreds more good-quality, well-paid jobs.”