Kidman Resources (KDR) and its joint venture partners Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM) have announced they have selected a site for their new Lithium Hydroxide facility at Kwinana Industrial Area.
This is a further sign of the growing strategic importance of Kwinana Industrial Area, which lies 30km from Perth and adjacent to port facilities and other infrastructure.
The JV company plans to build an integrated facility with initial annual production capacity of about 44,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide, or 37,000 tonnes of LCE, from spodumene concentrate from its Mt Holland Mine, 360km east of Kwinana.
A feasibility study for the plant is due to be released in Q418.
The proposed refinery will be at the Port of Kwinana.
The key battery ingredient of lithium is set to become Western Australia’s next boom metal, following in the footsteps of gold, nickel and iron ore.
The outlook is rosie for companies active in the lithium space, with increasing interest in value-adding opportunities.
Many analysts believe WA, is set to become the world’s second major location for the refining of lithium from mineral concentrate after China.
Global metals and minerals research company Roskill concurs, citing a number of recent announcements outlining the rapid pace of developments within the lithium mineral sector in the state.
Roskill stated: “Given its more straightforward development and production process compared to the lithium brine sector, this sector has been able to react quicker to current, and significantly increased projections for future lithium demand.”
Western Australia’s Lithium industry has gone into “over drive” in the space of a few years with Lithium projects worth billions of dollars in the pipeline.
The overwhelming majority of royalties generated by WA’s booming lithium projects seem destined to prop up the Eastern States, with the Commonwealth Grants Commission confirming it has no plans to exclude the sector from the GST carve-up.
In his recent State Budget, WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt projected lithium royalties would grow from $89 million this financial year, before another $333 million flows to the State between next year and 2022.
Mr Wyatt wrote to Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison shortly after WA’s Budget was handed down on May 9, asking him to direct the CGC to exclude lithium royalties from its calculations as a reward for the State’s quick reaction to help support booming demand for the commodity.
An electric vehicle charging network has been built by a group of dedicated Tesla Car owners. This will provide all electric vehicle drivers with a charging route.
This network covers close to 17,000 km with most charging stations being 200km apart.
Image: www.teslaowners.org.au
The progress by Tesla Owners Australia has been short of amazing with a progress from March 20016 to June 2018 shown in images above.
The progress from start to now:
2015 – Electric Vehicle Charging limited to an incomplete East Coast route, and SW Western Australia
2016 – The Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA) WA undertakes to create electric vehicle charging routes from Perth to Adelaide and Perth to Broome.
2017 – The Tesla Owners Club of Australia (TOCA) and the Australian Electric Vehicle Association jointly resolve to complete the Electric Highway round Australia, and later the Red Centre, usable by all electric vehicles, to a minimum available charge rate of 100km of range per hour of charging (or 70 km/h on a limited number of pre-existing sites). The first (and still only) time a Round Australia electric vehicle route has been contemplated.
2018 – As of May 2018 the Round Australia Electric Highway is complete around Australia to 400km max spacing, and only 4 sites off 300km max spacing (200 average). The Red Centre route is 100% driveable, with slow charging still at 2 points, and full completion expected by the end of 2018.
To find out more about this great achievement you can read the full story here:
Tesla owners roll out Australia-wide charging network – for all EVs : RenewEconomy
For the members of TOCA – who align themselves with Tesla’s mission statement, to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible – the Electric Highway project is all about getting a usable EV charging route in place “right now.”read more at reneweconomy.com.au
Tesla owners club installs Round Australia Electric Highway, providing all EV drivers with usable charging route – while governments and industry catch up. https://t.co/hu7CRxPPT1
We had our TOCA multi-state annual lunch at @pialligoestate today: excellent speeches, food, friends new and old, awards and even a quiz 🙂 pic.twitter.com/hRWtEFrQbf
Bacanore Lithium PLC saw a jump in share prices after announcing a 5 year contract extension with Japanese company Hanwa Corporation.
The company said: “This additional 5-year agreement will underpin the Company’s expansion strategy to bring on a Stage 2 expansion of the project to increase lithium production to 35,000 tpa.”
Bacanora Lithium shares jump as it announces five-year off-take contract extension with Japan’s Hanwa
The AIM-listed firm said Hanwa has agreed to extend their initial lithium off-take partnership for a further 5 years at a rate of 17,500 tonnes per annum (tpa) of lithium carbonate, on the same commercial terms as the initial 5-year off-take.
Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed their speculative buy rating on shares of Bacanora Lithium (LON:BCN) in a report released on Monday, May 14th. Canaccord Genuity currently has a GBX 165 ($2.21) target price on the stock.
Canaccord Genuity restated their speculative buy rating on shares of Bacanora Lithium (LON:BCN) in a report published on Monday, May 14th. They currently have a GBX 165 ($2.21) target price on the stock.
Could WA become the Battery metal powerhouse? According to Department of Mines, Industry Relations and Safety it is looking very good. As seen in the publication: Western Australia: a battery metal powerhouse. WA has the world’s largest single hard-rock Lithium (Li) deposit located in Greenbushes making it a great opportunity considering the world’s Lithium demand.
Professor Peter Newman confirms the opportunity with his report in which he calls the state to become the leader in battery manufacture. Not only does WA have a great Lithium deposit but all other metals required for battery production calling it a “One Stop Shop”.
This could create jobs in areas other than Lithium alone. Nickel, Cobalt, Manganese, Vanadium and Graphite are required for battery production and we could see increase in price and jobs.
Why only mining is not enough
The report also argues that WA should not only mine but add value by refining and manufacturing the end product. This all adds up to the predicted 100,000 jobs that will be created if WA seizes the opportunity.
Kwinana WA is home to the world’s first Lithium Hydroxide Processing Plant being built by Chinese Lithium producer Tianqi. Tianqi is spending more than $700 million by constructing the two stage lithium plant.
This is estimated to create over 500 construction jobs during the two stages and 115 local full time production jobs after its completion late 2018. 24,000 tonnes of Lithium Hydroxide will be produced annually by processing spodumene concentrate form Greenbushes.
WA’s Quality and Experience
Western Australia has much more to offer than just resources. Due to Oil & Gas and the Mining Boom the WA workforce is used to quality workmanship. With access to many highly skilled and trained professionals it is set up to win.
One of the world’s biggest lithium refineries is set to be established in Western Australia, south of Perth, leading the rush to take advantage of the “lithium boom”.
The multi-million dollar refinery is a joint venture between Australia’s Kidman Resources and Chilean company Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile.
It is expected the refinery will produce about 40,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide each year from a proposed lithium mine in the northern Goldfields.
Additionally, China’s Tianqi Lithium is in the process of setting up a $400 million dollar refinery in Kwinana. US company Albemarle is looking at a lithium plant in Kemerton near Bunbury. Other sites being considered are Ravensthorpe and Port Hedland.
The world’s largest lithium mine is in Greenbushes in WA’s south-west, but other mines and processing plants are underway, with an anticipated flow on of benefits.
Lithium mines need refineries and transport services and infrastructure to take raw materials from mine to refinery.
The demand for lithium-ion batteries required for electric cars offers opportunities for private sector investment in regional WA, not to mention a flow on of thousands of jobs.
New lithium mines and growing demand for materials used to make lithium batteries for electric vehicles puts Australia in a position to dominate the world’s lithium supply.
Mining and agribusiness reporter, Darryn Gray, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, has quoted Citi analyst Clarke Wilkins as saying Western Australia will provide over half of the world’s lithium supply because all of the world’s hard rock (spodumene) mines “are basically in WA.” Wilkins is quoted as saying that “there are projects outside of Australia, but it’s unlikely that any of those will be really of material scale production until a number of years away. Because you’ve got infrastructure, you’ve got a mining culture, the biggest projects tend to be in Australia, so Australia does lead the world in terms of development of these hard rock mines.”
Gray also reports Pilbara Minerals’ Ken Brinsden as saying the company’s Pilgangoora mine would be “one of the world’s largest lithium mines”, and was expected to start processing rocks to produce spodumene concentrate containing lithium with a first shipment of spodumene concentrate sometime in late June.
Despite the optimism, Gray points to volatile stock price movements of ASX-listed lithium companies in recent months. Rising share prices have been affected by concerns that the lithium market could be in over-supply in future years. Gray quotes Lachlan Shaw, commodity strategist with UBS as saying, “The industry is going through very rapid growth, and there will be bumps and curves along the way. … There’s a pretty wide range of views out there about demand growth, and about how the industry works. And because the range of views is so diverse, there’s added volatility”.
If all goes to plan, the Western Australian government will have, by November 2018, recommendations to take advantage of the lithium-ion battery boom.
A taskforce of senior government representatives will assess the opportunities by engaging with companies and a lithium industry reference group.
Plans have already been announced by several mining companies to process lithium and other minerals into materials lithium hydroxide, lithium carbonate and nickel sulphate. WA has deposits of minerals essential for lithium-ion batteries such as copper, cobalt, manganese and graphite.
State Mines Minister Bill Johnston believes the taskforce is the first step to positioning Western Australia to add value to mining, with downstream processing of lithium and related minerals to create thousands of highly skilled jobs, and for WA to be a world leader in new energy materials.
The State Government has already committed over 5 million dollars to the Minerals Research Institute of WA to apply for a Co-operative Research Centre for New Energy Industry in WA, aimed at developing commercial opportunities within the sector.
