A Chinese-Australian joint venture said it was close to producing Australia’s first battery-ready lithium hydroxide, as countries work to loosen China’s stranglehold on the lithium supply chain.
The Kwinana refinery near Perth in Western Australia, a joint venture between Tianqi and Australian miner IGO, will turn refined spodumene from the nearby Greenbushes mine into lithium hydroxide to make batteries used in electric vehicles and electricity grids.
Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of lithium with 46.4 per cent of the market in 2020, according to BP, but it has never refined the product onshore. The Kwinana refinery will be the first of its kind in Australia.