Car industry revolution fuels Western Australia’s lithium boom

A boom in electrical cars, such as this Tesla, has driven a boom in lithium mining.

ABC News: Marcus Alborn

Electrified cars are driving rapid mining investment in WA, with the state supplying most of the lithium needed to manufacture batteries worldwide.

Car makers’ EV targets

Volvo to phase out internal combustion cars

Volvo plans to develop an affordable EV

Tesla pledges to build one million EVs

Nissan predicts EVs will account for 20pc of sales in Europe

Ford forecasts up to 20pc of Chinese market will be EVs

Volkswagon to target one million EV sales

Mercedes predicts up to 25pc of its global sales will be EVs

Most electrical vehicles (EVs) use lithium-ion batteries, the same technology which powers smartphones, tablets and laptops.

As car makers around the globe race to meet fresh EV targets, request for batteries has driven lithium exports from WA as the state now produces more than half of the world’s supply.

Global leaders have been behind the shove, with fresh European emissions legislation forcing car markers to increase their targets and France recently announcing it desired to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040.

It joins similar targets set by India (2030) and Norway (2025).

Growth in request ‘astonished most analysts’

Batteries to store household solar power, which would permit consumers to disconnect from the electrical play grid, are also driving request to a lesser extent.

“The speed at which request has grown for lithium carbonate equivalent has astonished most analysts, ourselves included,” Katana Asset Management’s Romano Sala Tenna said.

“Up until a few months ago the conventional thinking was by about 2025, we would need about 330,000 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate, [but] based on latest announcements from larger automobile manufacturers, we are now thinking we will need at least dual that — about 600,000 tonnes per annum.”

While that may sound petite compared to the eight hundred million tonnes the state’s metal ore industry exports each year, the activity in the sector is already creating thousands of fresh jobs and generating millions in royalties for the cash-strapped WA Government.

Why lithium is a hot item

The Greenbushes mine in the state’s South West, which is part wielded by China’s Tianqi Lithium and America’s Albemarle, is one of the world’s largest lithium producers and is undergoing an expansion to dual production.

The mine has seen both boom and bust since beginning out as a tin operation in 1888, but is now on the cusp of another upswing — laying claim to what was considered the world’s highest grade lithium deposit.

“It is the longest continuously running mine in Western Australia and it’s on its third product. It just seems to keep producing fresh life,” Tianqi Lithium general manager Phil Thick said.

“Lithium is obviously a game changer for that mine. It’s been significant as a tin and tantalum mine, but lithium value is substantial.”

The joint venture is also building what it claims to be the thickest lithium processing plant in the world in Kwinana south of Perth.

The project will cost $400 million and create five hundred construction jobs.

‘More than just a mini-boom’

Growth in the sector has been rapid.

In January, the state had just one mine producing lithium — it now has four and exports have leaped six-fold.

WA catches lithium wave

Business observer Tim Treadgold has witnessed big switches in WA’s mining landscape during his forty years commentating on the sector.

“This is more than just a mini-boom, this is the real McCoy, we could go from one [mine] two years ago to eight by this time next year. It truly has been fairly remarkable what’s going on,” he said.

Activity in the sector is attracting big names including Chilean major Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) which has inked a deal to bankroll a fresh deposit in the Goldfields with Kidman Resources.

The deal was announced just days after Kidman won a Supreme Court battle against another miner to maintain control of the mine.

“The world has hammered a path to our door. The arrival of SQM was a real wakeup call that the world wants it and it’s coming here and it’s ready to pay for it,” Mr Treadgold said.

‘We can’t afford to keep throwing these things away’

Request is also growing for other specialty minerals which go into building a battery, including graphite, cobalt, vanadium and nickel.

While the concentrate for most miners has been getting their lithium to market as quickly as possible, other players like Lithium Australia is targeting lower grade lithium and recycling of old batteries.

“Our concentrate has been developing processing technology to a large extent focusing on the materials people don’t want to process at the moment,” Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said.

“If you look at the industry, there’s more lithium that gets discharged to waste around the world than ever gets into the process supply chain.

“One of the things Australia indeed needs to look at is the recycling of waste battery materials.

“We can’t afford to keep throwing these things away: At the moment there’s about 8,000 tonnes a year of battery materials going to landfill and there’s only about eight hundred tonnes recycled.”

Car industry revolution fuels Western Australia – s lithium boom – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Car industry revolution fuels Western Australia’s lithium boom

Updated July 29, two thousand seventeen 14:00:04

Electrical cars are driving rapid mining investment in WA, with the state supplying most of the lithium needed to manufacture batteries worldwide.

Car makers’ EV targets

Volvo to phase out internal combustion cars

Volvo plans to develop an affordable EV

Tesla pledges to build one million EVs

Nissan predicts EVs will account for 20pc of sales in Europe

Ford forecasts up to 20pc of Chinese market will be EVs

Volkswagon to target one million EV sales

Mercedes predicts up to 25pc of its global sales will be EVs

Most electrical vehicles (EVs) use lithium-ion batteries, the same technology which powers smartphones, tablets and laptops.

As car makers around the globe race to meet fresh EV targets, request for batteries has driven lithium exports from WA as the state now produces more than half of the world’s supply.

Global leaders have been behind the thrust, with fresh European emissions legislation forcing car markers to increase their targets and France recently announcing it desired to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040.

It joins similar targets set by India (2030) and Norway (2025).

Growth in request ‘astonished most analysts’

Batteries to store household solar power, which would permit consumers to disconnect from the tens unit grid, are also driving request to a lesser extent.

“The speed at which request has grown for lithium carbonate equivalent has astonished most analysts, ourselves included,” Katana Asset Management’s Romano Sala Tenna said.

“Up until a few months ago the conventional thinking was by about 2025, we would need about 330,000 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate, [but] based on latest announcements from larger automobile manufacturers, we are now thinking we will need at least dual that — about 600,000 tonnes per annum.”

While that may sound puny compared to the eight hundred million tonnes the state’s metal ore industry exports each year, the activity in the sector is already creating thousands of fresh jobs and generating millions in royalties for the cash-strapped WA Government.

Why lithium is a hot item

The Greenbushes mine in the state’s South West, which is part wielded by China’s Tianqi Lithium and America’s Albemarle, is one of the world’s largest lithium producers and is undergoing an expansion to dual production.

The mine has seen both boom and bust since kicking off out as a tin operation in 1888, but is now on the cusp of another upswing — laying claim to what was considered the world’s highest grade lithium deposit.

“It is the longest continuously running mine in Western Australia and it’s on its third product. It just seems to keep producing fresh life,” Tianqi Lithium general manager Phil Thick said.

“Lithium is obviously a game changer for that mine. It’s been significant as a tin and tantalum mine, but lithium value is substantial.”

The joint venture is also building what it claims to be the thickest lithium processing plant in the world in Kwinana south of Perth.

The project will cost $400 million and create five hundred construction jobs.

‘More than just a mini-boom’

Growth in the sector has been rapid.

In January, the state had just one mine producing lithium — it now has four and exports have hopped six-fold.

WA catches lithium wave

Business observer Tim Treadgold has witnessed big switches in WA’s mining landscape during his forty years commentating on the sector.

“This is more than just a mini-boom, this is the real McCoy, we could go from one [mine] two years ago to eight by this time next year. It indeed has been fairly remarkable what’s going on,” he said.

Activity in the sector is attracting big names including Chilean major Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) which has inked a deal to bankroll a fresh deposit in the Goldfields with Kidman Resources.

The deal was announced just days after Kidman won a Supreme Court battle against another miner to maintain control of the mine.

“The world has hammered a path to our door. The arrival of SQM was a real wakeup call that the world wants it and it’s coming here and it’s ready to pay for it,” Mr Treadgold said.

‘We can’t afford to keep throwing these things away’

Request is also growing for other specialty minerals which go into building a battery, including graphite, cobalt, vanadium and nickel.

While the concentrate for most miners has been getting their lithium to market as quickly as possible, other players like Lithium Australia is targeting lower grade lithium and recycling of old batteries.

“Our concentrate has been developing processing technology to a large extent focusing on the materials people don’t want to process at the moment,” Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said.

“If you look at the industry, there’s more lithium that gets discharged to waste around the world than ever gets into the process supply chain.

“One of the things Australia truly needs to look at is the recycling of waste battery materials.

“We can’t afford to keep throwing these things away: At the moment there’s about 8,000 tonnes a year of battery materials going to landfill and there’s only about eight hundred tonnes recycled.”

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