In April, the Federal Government provided $25 million in funding for Perth to host a Co-operative Research Centre aimed at bringing together governments, researchers and industry to help Australia pursue opportunities across the battery supply chain.

The chief executive of the Future Battery Industries CRC, Stedman Ellis, says the role of the centre is to match Australia’s well developed research capabilities and skills across its universities and the CSIRO with the opportunities that market participants are seeing and move quickly enough to capture them.

Steadman Ellis is the chief executive of the Future Battery Minerals Co-operative Research Centre, looking to the downstream processing of battery minerals. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper Steadman Ellis is the chief executive of the Future Battery Minerals Co-operative Research Centre, looking to the downstream processing of battery minerals. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper

The centre’s 58 member participants would work together to shape the specifics of research programs that would be conducted over the next six years.

Ellis notes Australia has a “here and now opportunity” to take the next step beyond lithium hydroxide production.

It has an abundance of all the minerals needed in the battery supply chain, strong competence in mining and processing and a sophisticated regulatory system with high standards of sustainability, environmental and ethical performance.

“These are increasingly important in supply chains,” he says.

Ellis says every country in the world has its own plans to pursue the battery opportunity, so it is important that Australia moves quickly.

“Australia won’t be competitive everywhere around the global battery value chain,” he says.

“It’s about identifying the niches where we should seek to grow our capabilities.”

Ellis says moving into the chemical products used in cathodes and anodes is a shared ambition of CRC participants and early research will focus on helping companies to commercialise that opportunity.

A report by Regional Development Australian entitled Lithium Valley estimated employment in energy metals could grow from 7291 in 2017 to 28,771 direct full-time jobs in 2025.

As well as 12,275 jobs in construction new mines and plants to 2025.

Despite the upbeat sentiment, doubters point to the soft and falling prices of some battery metals such as lithium and cobalt in recent times amid fears of a new wave of supply and talk of cheaper substitutes.

Thick says Tianqi was not concerned by the recent fall in lithium prices, saying the previous price surge had been unsustainable.

“The global market is always a risk but our expectation is that it will stabilise from here,” he says.

Thick believes the global market for lithium hydroxide is big enough to justify the four plants planned for WA.

Brinsden says strategic interest in the sector belies the negative mood towards lithium in equity markets.

“The lithium-ion battery supply chain is very active, there’s lots of deals being down all the way through the supply chain,” he says.

“It’s happening because people are getting set for significant growth and they’re also looking to underscore the quality of the supply base.”

Brinsden says cathode producers, battery makers and auto manufacturers are “deeply concerned” about matching supply growth to the demand emerging downstream.

“There is no comparison between say a spodumene supply from WA as compared to what they might mine domestically in China.”