''Fluorspar's a metal with a lot of usages, currently dominated by China which has around 70% of the world's production'', says Critical Metals Plc's chairman Christopher Ecclestone.

 ''Its long term use has been as a flux in smelting industries such as steel .. but it has a myriad of different uses''.

''The problem now is that many people don't realise it's a vital component in lithium-ion batteries - it's the metal no-one's heard about in the battery metals mix''.