• Sharma, Neeraj
• Best, Adam
• Lawson, David

Abstract

Australia is well known for its prodigious supplies of minerals such as Iron and Coal, but what is less well known is that Australia is rich in minerals that are integral to the development of the lithium and alkali -ion battery industry.Minerals such as lithium-containing spodumene and pegmatites, nickel, cobalt, manganese, vanadium, natural graphite, copper and aluminium are all found in significant quantities. In mid-2018, Australia overtook Chile as the world’s largest lithium producing nation, with production increasing 34 % in one year alone [1]. With growing demand for lithium, the Australian state of Western Australia has staked a claim to this industry through the creation of “Lithium Valley”. Lithium is being concentrated and converted to LiOH and other forms as precursors for cathodes, lithium salts and to a lesser degree, anodes. Nickel (and byproduct Cobalt) is also highly abundant in Western Australia (96 % of Australian resources [2]) and to this end, BHP Nickel West is actively developing NiSO4 and CoSO4 products to go into the battery value chain. Natural graphite is of increasing interest due to pressures surrounding supply of artificial graphite due its polluting nature, so miners are actively seeking to float, spheronise and purify their materials to ensure that it is suitable for the battery market.Beyond mining, Australia is also now pursuing more downstream processing of these materials to cathode and anode materials.There are now several proposals for cathode precursor production and both cell and battery manufacturing activities [3]. Australia is also one of the leading adopters of battery energy storage through the adoption of residential PV connected systems configured for virtual power plant operation. At the larger scale, grid storage is being implemented at an incredible pace through, for example, the 135 MWh Tesla battery in South Australia and the 30MW/30MWh Fluence battery in Victoria. There are numerous battery and renewables projects in the pipeline, currently 14.8GW under construction or financially committed, as Australia’s older coal power generation assets are coming to end-of-life with replacements via cleaner technologies. This is coupled with Australia’s R&D innovation activities through Universities, the CSIRO, Co-operative Research Centres (CRC) such as the Future Battery Industries (FBICRC), and the creation of the Australian Battery Society. In this paper we will highlight Australia’s capabilities and ambitions within the battery value chain, and the abundant opportunities to work with Australia

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• mineral
• nickel
• aluminium
• laser emission spectroscopy
• copper
• cobalt
• Lithium
• iron
• Manganese
• vanadium