LONDON, UK: Alkemy Capital Investments announced the appointment of John Walker as CEO of Alkemy’s newly formed wholly owned subsidiary Tees Valley Lithium Ltd, effective immediately.
John has more than 30 years of leadership experience in the mining and advanced materials processing industries. Most recently he has been providing strategic advice to ASX listed Piedmont Lithium in the USA and served as Chairman of Exawatt which provides strategic consultancy services to the battery industry.
Prior to this he served as CEO of The Quartz Corporation (a joint venture between IMERYS and Norsk Mineral), a mining and processing company that supplies the world’s highest-purity quartz to the solar, semiconductor and fibreoptic markets.
John was a key player in driving The Quartz Corporation’s business development, growing the company from a new entrant to the second-largest player in the high-purity quartz market.
His experience will further strengthen Tees Valley Lithium’s ability to execute its strategy to build the UK’s first battery grade Lithium Hydroxide refinery.
Sam Quinn (Director) commented: “We are thrilled that John has joined Tees Valley Lithium as CEO. John’s deep experience, passion and clear thinking will be huge assets as we further our plan to be the first UK producer of Lithium Hydroxide.”
John Walker commented: “I’m very excited to be joining Tees Valley Lithium as CEO. We are looking to establish world class Lithium Hydroxide production in the Wilton International Chemicals Park in the Teesside Freeport to supply the burgeoning demand from Gigafactories in the UK and Europe.
Currently China processes 90% of the world’s Lithium Hydroxide. Tees Valley will import high value intermediate lithium products with a low carbon footprint from around the world and provide customers in the UK and Europe with an independent and sustainable supply of battery-grade Lithium Hydroxide.
Tees Valley Lithium is aiming to supply 15% of Europe’s demand by 2030. We are pleased to be bringing back high value manufacturing to the UK and securing the critical minerals for our journey to Net Zero.”