MELBOURNE: Australia’s Mineral Resources (MinRes) says it intends to develop a lithium processing hub in the Goldfields region of Western Australia after its buyout of Poseidon Nickel’s Lake Johnston nickel concentrator plant and mining rights.
Billionaire Chris Ellison, who leads the diversified miner, has been vocal about his plans to centrally process lithium ore mined in the region, in a “hub and spoke” model.
Australia ships out around half of the world’s supply of battery raw material, and the move is another step in the magnate’s plan to dominate the lithium sector, where it already owns three hard rock mines.
“We intend to bring our expertise in spodumene production to Lake Johnston, which has the potential to service projects throughout the world’s most prospective region for lithium,” Ellison said.
MinRes will convert the existing nickel plant to be able to process the lithium into spodumene concentrate. It has not disclosed the capital costs of the project.
Ellison has said that further processing in Australia, such as the battery-grade lithium hydroxide that Tianqi and Albemarle make, is too expensive in current conditions.
It will pay A$1mil (US$655,900) on execution of the acquisition agreement, A$6.5mil on completion of the deal, and a further A$7.5mil a year after the completion. — Reuters
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