The provenance of critical minerals was key to Western Australia’s future positioning within the global battery supply chain, according to the State’s Minister for Mines and Petroleum David Michael.
“With a rich endowment of these minerals, I look forward to positioning Western Australia as a destination of choice for the responsible sourcing of future-facing commodities that will drive global decarbonisation efforts,” Minister Michael said.
“I’m taking a keen interest in the minerals critical in their make-up, but of course I am also curious about the provenance of these minerals, given a typical EV requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car.”
Additionally, the International Energy Agency estimates the average amount of mineral resources needed for a new unit of power generation has increased by 50 per cent since 2010, reflecting the rising up-take of renewables.
Opening Paydirt’s 2024 Battery Minerals Conference in Perth this morning, Minister Michael said in less than a decade, Western Australia had established a multi-billion-dollar battery and critical minerals processing industry.
He said the challenge now was ensuring more global scale investments were made in WA to expand our capacity in advanced critical minerals processing and battery chemical manufacturing.
WA Minister for Mines and Petroleum, David Michael, opening Paydirt’s 2024 Battery Minerals Conference in Perth this morning.
“Our opportunity is to build upon the three lithium hydroxide refineries currently being commissioned or constructed by Tianqi, Albemarle and Covalent Lithium.
“At full capacity, these three refineries will produce up to 200,000 tonnes per annum, enough to power around four million electric vehicles.
“This would make Western Australia one of the world’s top producers of this ingredient that feeds into lithium-ion batteries.
“It has been great as Minister for Mines and Petroleum since December to visit mines across our State and meet with proponents.”
The conference will be held in Perth next week from 16 – 17 April at the Pan Pacific Perth.
The full programme is available at https://www.batterymineralsconference.com/programme/ – or for registration inquiries contact Georgia Tully at georgia@paydirt.com.au.
