Pilbara Minerals, one of Australia's largest lithium miners, plans to build a pilot demonstration plant in Western Australia to refine a high-value lithium product and promote the development of Australia's lithium refining industry .
In recent years, Pilbara Mining Company has often held lithium ore auctions, so the company has become familiar to more domestic investors, and the company name has also been shortened to "P Mine" by netizens.
This time, Pilbara Mining has signed a formal joint venture agreement with Australian technology company Calix Ltd. and issued a joint statement on Monday.
The two parties will establish a joint venture factory to use the latter's "calcining" technology patent to process the hard rock lithium mined by the Pilbara Company into a high-value, low-carbon intensity "midstream" lithium product.
The joint statement stated that the final investment decision for the pilot plant will be made in the first half of 2023.
The joint venture factory will be located near the Pilgangoora project in Pilbara and around Port Hedland. The investment is expected to be between A$50 million and A$70 million (US$33.43 million to US$46.8 million). wait. Among them, Pilbara Mining holds 55% of the shares and Calix holds 45%.
New lithium products
The "midstream" lithium product the Pilbara is preparing to produce is a less refined and easier-to-produce chemical than refined lithium salts. The products are more durable, resulting in significantly lower costs, less waste and lower carbon monoxide emissions. However, the product is only an intermediate product and requires further processing before it can be used in battery manufacturing.
More and more lithium producers are entering Australia to develop their own lithium smelting operations, with most companies aiming to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide and then sell it to battery manufacturers. However, none has yet reached commercial scale.
The "midstream product chain" planned by the Pilbara-Calix joint venture factory can be said to be a new attempt to promote potential commercialization.
The statement also mentioned that the two companies are negotiating a $20 million grant from the Australian federal government. If successful in securing government funding, the technology could be scaled up to commercial scale and possibly licensed to third parties.
Australia is the world's largest producer of lithium metal, accounting for almost half of global supply, but it currently does not export refined lithium chemicals. The construction of the plant can be seen as part of Australia's efforts to promote the development of the country's lithium refining industry.