Tianqi Lithium has officially started operations at the first lithium hydroxide refinery built outside China, with the company aiming to achieve practical completion of stage one of the Kwinana plant next month, while works on stage two have been put on hold.
Tianqi Lithium has officially started operations at the first lithium hydroxide refinery built outside China, with the company aiming to achieve practical completion of stage one of the Kwinana plant next month, while works on stage two have been put on hold.
The company revealed today it is focused on completion of its stage one project, which will produce 24,000 tonnes per annum of lithium hydroxide.
Its stage two project, which will double production capacity, is well advanced but works are presently on hold.
“All of our focus for the coming months is on getting stage one into steady production and all resources have been channelled towards this,” general manager Phil Thick said today.
“Once we have achieved this we will return our focus to completion of stage two as customer demand continues to build.”
Tianqi’s investment at Kwinana gave it a first-mover advantage in the lithium market, where a recent increase in supply has led to a sharp fall in prices.
“It is an important day as Tianqi was the first to make a bold decision to build a plant like this in Western Australia, a decision that many others are now trying to follow,” Mr Thick said.
US company Albemarle Corporation is building a lithium refinery at Kemerton, albeit at a scaled-down size from initial plans, while Wesfarmers is in the process of acquiring Kidman Resources, which has plans for its own refinery at Kwinana.
Perth company Mineral Resources had planned to build a refinery at its Wodgina mine in the Pilbara, but that has been put on hold.
Tianqi is targeting practical completion of its stage one project in October with production ramp-up to commence over the next few months.
The ramp-up is expected to take 12 to 18 months.
“Commissioning was always going to be a long and detailed process for such a complex plant, to do it safely and position ourselves for fastest possible ramp-up, and we have had no significant issues to date,” Mr Thick said.
Tianqi has not provided final costs for the project, which was budgeted to reach $700 million across both stages.
However, the company has indicated costs have been affected by the complexity of the project and it being the first of its kind and size in the world.
Mr Thick said consistent production of the highest quality battery grade material for the electric vehicle sector remained his immediate objective.
“Tier one global customers like LG Chemical, SK Innovation and Ecopro have put their faith in us to supply their requirements and we are committed to doing that,” he said.
The Tianqi refinery will have a permanent workforce of about 200 people, the majority of whom come from the local Kwinana/Rockingham area and surrounding suburbs.
The plant will source its raw material - lithium-bearing spodumene concentrate – from Talison Lithium’s Greenbushes mine, which is majority owned by Tianqi.
Talison announced last week it had achieved practical completion of its CGP2 expansion project, which boosted the production capacity at Greenbushes to 1.34 million tonnes per annum of concentrate, or approximately 180,000tpa of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE).
Talison has also been planning a CGP3 expansion, and flagged the possibility of a CGP4 project, but they have been paused while market conditions are reviewed.
Guests at today’s Kwinana opening included Tianqi president Vivian Wu.
“We expect significant growth in the lithium market, driven primarily by electric vehicles and energy storage, over the next 10 years and with the Kwinana plant we are very well placed to take significant advantage of that,” Ms Wu said.
