Researchers at the University of Leicester have signed an agreement with BHP to identify new areas for discovering critical metals for the electric vehicle (EV) industry.

The University said the two-year project, titled the Craton Margin Exploration Targeting 4D', will include researchers at the University of Western Australia (UWA), Perth and Macquarie University, Sydney.

Funded by BHP's Resource Centre of Excellence and Metals Exploration, the project will be coupled with novel advances in experimental petrology and tectonic modelling to highlight "sweet spots" of crust that have "undergone a series of favourable processes through geological time."

The University also said the project would "challenge scientists' current understanding of the nickel mineral system and potentially open up new exploration search space for nickel across the globe.

Demand for minerals such as nickel is rising as the world transitions away from carbon and uses EVs.

David Holwell from the Centre for Sustainable Extraction in the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment said researchers will apply "recent and ongoing research" on nickel-copper-platinum group metal deposits "directly to exploration targeting."

Other UK bodies are improving the country's status as an EV manufacturing hub, including improving its mining industry.

In December 2021, Mining Magazine reported how the government is championing the domestic mining sector due to its important role in developing EVs.

In January 2022, British Lithium announced it had produced its first lithium at its pilot plant near Roche, Cornwall, from mica in granite, a world first.