Ambitious plans for former County Durham cement works site set to be approved
PLANS for the phased construction of a lithium extraction plant in County Durham are set to be
approved.
The Weardale Lithium facility would be located on the brownfield, former cement works at
Eastgate, near Stanhope, for processing geothermal groundwater from existing deep, high-
specification, production wells nearby.
The Eastgate site has been dormant for more than 20 years since the closure of the cement works.
The application identifies four constituent parts to the proposals: The existing groundwater
abstraction wells; A new below and above-ground pipeline corridor to take water abstracted from
the existing wells to the existing gantry over the River Wear; A pipeline gantry across the River Wear
using the former conveyor gantry bridge that previously linked the Eastgate Quarry with the former
Weardale Cement Works site ; The construction of a pilot Lithium processing plant on the former
Weardale Cement Works site in two phases.
The application has been amended since its original submission in response to consultation
responses and operational changes to the site layout.
It now details plans for temporary development but with permanent planning permission sought for
the pipeline routes. Below-ground structures would remain in place and require further consent for
future use.
Meanwhile, the duration of the development was reduced from permanent permission to
permission sought for 15 years for the pilot plant. In December 2024 it was confirmed that all above-
ground structures would be removed at the end of the development.
It is estimated the scheme will create hundreds of jobs over its lifetime.
The applicant said the scheme represents a significant opportunity for the regeneration of the
Eastgate site with the development of a local high-technology treatment facility to process lithium
brine mineral resources found in deep groundwaters within Weardale.
