WA is strategically placed to take advantage of increased lithium demand created by the ever growing battery industry. By 2025 it is expected the lithium-ion battery market will reach a value of USD $93.1 billion, equating to a CAGR of 17.0%. This demand uplift will be driven by increased consumption and development of electric vehicles, portable consumer electronics and grid storage systems.
Electric vehicle (EV) industry leaders such as Tesla have shown a preference to use lithium hydroxide over lithium carbonate. With other EV manufacturers using designs which are adaptable to switch from lithium carbonate to lithium hydroxide in the future. Within current battery chemistries this is the logical choice given hydroxide can provide better power density and thermal stability.
Australia is the worlds largest spodumene producer, with all operational lithium producers being hard rock miners which produce spodumene concentrate. This gives Australian miners a competitive advantage over their brine counterparts as the raw material can be processed directly to either a lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide product. In contrast, brine can only be processed to a lithium carbonate product which then requires further reprocessing to take it to lithium hydroxide, adding significant cost.
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