Canberra Responds To Washington’s Call For Banning New Lithium Refineries’ Cooperation With Beijing

It was reported on Nov. 28 that Pilbara Minerals Ltd., one of Australia’s largest lithium producers, plans to establish a demonstration plant in Western Australia to refine the material critical to the world’s flourishing market for battery metals. The pilot plant will process Pilbara Minerals’ hard-rock ore into lithium salts near the company’s Pilgangoora project in Western Australia in a joint venture with the country’s Calix Ltd., a high tech company, using the latter’s patented “calcination” technology. A final investment decision for the demonstration plant is planned for the first half of 2023. The two companies said they were in talks with the Australian government for a $20 million Australian Dollar grant. It’s part of Canberra’s drive to boost the country’s onshore lithium refining industry in response to demand for battery metals from American and European automakers bypassing Communist China.

Australia is the world’s largest producer of the metal, accounting for almost half of global supply, but does not currently export refined lithium chemicals. A growing number of lithium producers are refining in Australia, including U.S. company Albemarle Corp. and Communist China’s Tianqi Lithium and Wesfarmers Ltd.. Most of them aim to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide that can be sold to battery manufacturers ready-to-use, but none has been operating on a commercial scale. Pilbara Minerals plans to create a less refined, easier-to-produce chemical that would be more durable than lithium hydroxide.