Work begins at Kwinana lithium plant

A $400 million lithium hydroxide plant to supply the battery industry will bring highly skilled technical and scientific jobs with it, Premier Colin Barnett said at the facility’s groundbreaking ceremony today in Kwinana.

Business News revealed in September that Chinese company Tianqi Lithium had made a final investment decision on the $400 million plant after achieving development assessment panel approval.

Tianqi is the major shareholder of Talison Resources, the operator of the massive Greenbushes lithium mine in the South West, which produces 30 per cent of the world’s lithium supply.

Lithium has attracted a lot of excitement of late as analysts predict a big rise in the price of the metal thanks to increasing demand from the battery storage industry.

In WA, that has meant the reactivation of the formerly General Mining-owned Mt Cattlin mine, now Galaxy Resources, while Neometals is commissioning a mine at Mt Marion.

Mr Barnett said Tianqi’s Kwinana plant was a manufacturing project, rather than mining, part of a trend he saw developing in the state’s economy.

“A month ago I opened a major chemical manufacturing plant in Karratha (Yara Pilbara Nitrates), that’s part of the transition that's happening to the WA economy,” he said.

“There will be an expansion of the (Kwinana) project presumably in the future, but also a significant research component.

“People are always looking for ways to better use lithium to improve the efficiency and longevity of battery systems in all sorts of applications.

“This is taking the WA economy into a higher level and (will have) very highly skilled technical and scientific jobs attached to it.”

He said the state’s mining industry was maturing and expanding into more exotic materials like lithium, rare earths and uranium.

Tianqi chair Jiang Weiping also touted the plants’ high technology and value adding potential.

“We’re hoping this can be our new milestone in WA, as well as a new flagship for Talison Lithium,” he said.

“New energy is the future, that’s why we’re hoping we’re not only building a facility of production, but also build a research and development centre to cultivate the cooperation between Chinese and Australian universities."

Potential buyers of the lithium would include technology giants such as Panasonic, with about 24,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide expected to be produced annually.

MSP Engineering is the key contractor for the plant.