In September 2025, the UK government granted planning consent for the £8.2 billion 'Tamar Valley Lithium & Deep Geothermal Project' in Cornwall. This dual-purpose facility is projected to extract deep geothermal brine to generate 150 MW of continuous clean baseload electricity, while simultaneously extracting enough battery-grade lithium to meet 40% of the UK's domestic electric vehicle manufacturing demand over the next 40 years. The venture is financed via a public-private partnership involving multinational mining syndicates and the UK Infrastructure Bank.
Evaluate the likely private costs and external costs associated with major critical mineral extraction and clean energy infrastructure projects of this scale. Use an appropriate externalities diagram in your answer.
54 exam-style questions on Edexcel A A Level Economics 1.3.2 Externalities. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.