The prime minister believes he can revive hopes of turning Australia into a minerals processing powerhouse. Is this anything other than wishful thinking?
The $1.2 billion lithium hydroxide refinery on the shores of Perth’s southern beaches was once heralded as vital to Australia’s dream of becoming a battery minerals processing powerhouse. Today, the Tianqi Lithium plant sits in an uneasy state – its expansion plans in tatters, its future bleak. Conveyor belts that once ferried lithium-rich rock to a 1000-degree kiln and onto a vat of chemicals lay idle for long periods at the start of the year.
Plans to double the size of the plant – a short drive from Perth in the industrial suburb of Kwinana – were shelved in January. High costs, low lithium prices, technical problems and unfavourable economics are conspiring to kill off the facility entirely, and with it another slice of Australia’s dream.
In the past two and half years, the price of lithium – a mineral critical to the renewable energy transition and used in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and homes – has plunged almost 90 per cent, due to oversupply and weaker-than-expected electric vehicle demand.
For the rest of this article: https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/australia-s-lithium-dream-is-fading-can-tax-breaks-revive-it-20250316-p5ljx9