A northeast firm has been awarded more than a quarter of a million pounds from the UK Government’s Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF).

Ellon-based Aberdeen Minerals will receive £294,000 to meet 70% of the cost of a feasibility study into innovative methods to process the minerals at the company’s Arthrath Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project in Aberdeenshire.

The study will investigate the potential to accelerate the production of cathode raw materials in north-east Scotland for UK battery manufacturing, using more environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable approaches than the carbon-intensive, overseas supply chains on which the UK industry currently relies.

Innovations to be tested include Glycine Leaching Technology, a technique patented by Draslovka, which uses glycine, a non-toxic amino acid often used as a food additive or nutritional supplement in humans and animals, as an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective way to produce critical minerals. The privately owned firm works with landowners and other organisations and engages in mineral exploration for battery raw materials focused on nickel and copper in northeast Scotland.

The firm points to Aberdeenshire as a highly prospective geological setting with identified nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metal sulphide mineralisation hosted in Ordovician-aged mafic intrusive complexes within a 10,000 square km area north and west of Aberdeen city.

It undertakes geological, geophysical, and geochemical surveying to target and drill tests for economic deposits and has secured exploration agreements with landowners over the areas it currently considers most prospective.

Fraser Gardiner, Chief Executive Officer of Aberdeen Minerals said: “We are grateful to receive UK Government backing and endorsement of our project. The support through the Automotive Transformation Fund enables a very exciting opportunity to advance our vision in north-east Scotland for environmentally and socially responsible, local processing of the critical raw materials required for a just energy transition.

“We look forward to working with our partners and stakeholders to deliver a unique and innovative programme.”

The ATF is delivered by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) in collaboration with the Department for Business and Trade and Innovate UK to support large-scale industrialisation and the transition to net zero. The Aberdeen Minerals grant is part of a broader package of funding.

APC Automotive Transformation Director Julian Hetherington said: “The Automotive Transformation Fund is supporting new projects to scope out opportunities within the wider supply chain that could lead to significant investments in manufacturing here in the UK.

“Gigafactories are only part of the story, as much of the supply of materials is currently imported from carbon-intensive sources. If the sector is to transition to net zero and localise production, this funding can help to show where the potential is for expanding the UK’s capability.”