GEL secures £10M from ABN AMRO to expand UK lithium production
What's the deal? Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL), the UK's leading developer of geothermal power and critical minerals extraction, has secured £10 million in financing from Dutch bank ABN AMRO. The funds will support expanded lithium production at GEL's United Downs site in Cornwall and preparation for further sites where the company already has planning permission.
GEL switched on the UK's first geothermal power and commercial-scale lithium production last month. The ABN AMRO backing also positions the company to begin raising significant additional capital for broader UK expansion.
Why now? Global supply chains for critical minerals like lithium face growing geopolitical risk, and Europe is ramping up electric vehicle and battery storage ambitions. The UK government's Critical Minerals Strategy aims to leverage domestic mineral wealth and reduce dependence on foreign sources.
"At a time of significant instability in global energy and mineral supplies, it is essential we start to realise the UK potential of 24/7 geothermal power and critical mineral production," said Ryan Law, GEL's chief executive officer.
Industry minister Chris McDonald called the deal "a big step forward for geothermal power production in the UK" and said it would help ramp up domestic lithium output and create local jobs.
What could go wrong? Geothermal lithium extraction remains a nascent technology, and scaling production to commercially meaningful volumes is unproven at this stage. £10 million is modest compared to the capital required for full-scale critical minerals operations — ABN AMRO recently backed Germany's Vulcan Energy in a €2.2 billion raise, underscoring how much larger future funding rounds may need to be.
Cornwall's geology and planning processes could also slow expansion timelines.
The signal: ABN AMRO's back-to-back bets on geothermal lithium — financing late-growth-stage Vulcan Energy ResourcesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in Germany and now early-stage GEL in the UK — suggest the Dutch bank is building a dedicated thesis around European onshore lithium extraction. GEL's £10 million is a fraction of Vulcan's mega-round, but it marks the moment UK geothermal lithium crossed from pilot project to bankable asset, a trajectory investors in adjacent critical minerals plays will be watching closely.
Read more: energyglobal.com
