While the local production of battery chemicals is increasing, what are the prospects of Australia moving further downstream to active materials, cell manufacturing and even beyond?
Critical minerals were a key focus of the recent RIU Sydney Resources Round-up, and commodities advisory firm CRU used its keynote presentation to not only demonstrate Australia’s raw materials capability, but also the possibilities further along the battery supply chain.
“Australia is typically focused on the dig and ship-it side of the industry, and Australian manufacturing has been offshored due to high energy costs and competition from overseas,” CRU senior consultant David Royle said. “Those energy costs will be a problem that needs to be solved moving forward.
“On the capex (capital expenditure) side, it’s still a bit expensive, but what we are seeing from these new lithium hydroxide refineries popping up in WA is that they can be competitive on an opex (operational expenditure) basis globally.”
Australian companies such as Mineral Resources (MinRes), IGO and Wesfarmers are harnessing the opportunity to produce lithium hydroxide onshore.
While MinRes and IGO are already producing lithium hydroxide from their Kemerton and Kwinana joint venture facilities in WA, Wesfarmers aims to brings its Kwinana plant online in 2025 after spodumene concentrate production commences at the Mt Holland mine in 2024.
And Royle believes Australia also has opportunities further downstream, including in the active materials space.
“Not only lithium, but Australia has all the composite materials to get to pCAM (precursor cathode active material) or CAM (cathode active material) refining,” he said. “At this stage, targeting gigafactories might be a bit ambitious, but I can’t see any reason why battery chemicals, pCAM or CAM can’t be competitive in Australia.”
IGO is working with Andrew Forrest-backed Wyloo Metals to develop an integrated battery material (IBM) facility that would produce a nickel-dominant pCAM.
The companies recently secured land in Kwinana for the facility, which would integrate a downstream nickel refinery with a plant that produces the pCAM product.
Pure Battery Technologies is another company looking to establish a pCAM facility, having established a memorandum of understanding with Poseidon Nickel to develop a plant near Kalgoorlie in WA.
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