Good News & Bad News, page-15919

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Australian exports of battery metals could begin to rival thermal coal revenue within a few years, as the surging lithium price turns the critical metals sector into a major earner for Australian miners and chemicals companies. 

But behind the resources’ sectors big news for exporter earners is the kind extraordinary growth of the nation’s battery metals sector. Combined sales of copper, lithium and nickel are likely to hit $32bn this year, the report forecasts. 

That growth is led by lithium sales, which Mr Thurtell predicts will almost triple in value this year, rising from $5bn last financial year to $14bn this year. As global supply lifts next year, lithium sales will earn about $13bn, according to the report. 


Although most Australian lithium exports are priced on longer-term contracts, with only limited spot market sales, Mr Thurtell notes that spot prices in August of $US4,720 a tonne are a ten-fold lift on the $US418 a tonne recorded in January 2021, as lithium prices hit their nadir on the back of an oversupplied market. 


lithium concentrate) prices are forecast to rise from an average $US598 a tonne in 2021 to $US2730 a tonne in 2022, and $US3280 a tonne in 2023 before moderating to US$2490 in 2024,” the report says. 

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