Pilbara pioneers a new lithium product for a new battery boom

afr.com:

When Mario Silvera steers his Chinese-made electric vehicle around the streets of Sydney, he is driving the consumer trend that has inspired two Australian companies to invest $104.9 million on the creation of a homegrown, value-added lithium product.

Lithium miner Pilbara Minerals and science companyCalix will spend the funds building a pioneering processing plant that will make a battery ingredient with seven times more lithium than thespodumene concentrate that Pilbara and other miners typically export from Australia.

“We think it has potential to be a fantastic step forward for the industry,” said Pilbara Minerals chief executive Dale Henderson.

Pilbara Minerals CEO Dale Henderson with a sample of the lithium phosphate product. Christian Sprogoe

Calix and Pilbara’s new product will be lithium phosphate, and while it can be sold to any type of lithium-ion battery manufacturer, it will particularly appeal to those making battery cathodes with lithium-ferro-phosphate (LFP) chemistries.

Global sales of batteries containing LFP chemistries have surged in the past two years as motorists have rushed to embrace a cheaper option than the most common and most powerful type of batteries, those with nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) chemistry.

Calix and Pilbara Minerals’ decision to invest in the creation of a value-added lithium product fits neatly with the Albanese government’s desire to foster more domestic processing of critical minerals and ultimately more local battery manufacturing.

The new processing technology is an adaption of the innovative kiln technology that has already made ASX-listed Calix a global frontrunner in the mission to decarbonise heavy industries such as cement manufacturing, steel making and alumina