Joint Statement by US /Australian Governments re Critical Minerals, page-8

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science...n-australia-mining-to-manufacturing/102356832

"The step of (battery) cell manufacturing captures almost half the total revenue, but Australia currently doesn't manufacture lithium-ion cells at scale.
Instead, its contribution is almost entirely through mining, which accounts for three cents in every dollar of total value.
This financial year, Australia will export about $18.5 billion worth of lithium, or around half the global supply.
Most of that lithium will be shipped to China, which is home to six of the world's 10 biggest battery manufacturers and dominates the global battery value chain.
It's a similar story with other battery minerals, such as graphite, nickel, manganese, cobalt, vanadium, copper and aluminium.

Australia is essentially "selling the wool and buying back jumpers", says Brian Craighead, CEO of Renaissance Energy, an Australian battery maker.
"That's basically what we do, we dig it up and send it out."
"We get 5 cents in the dollar and we live with that … but we can get 95 cents."
For Australia to win a greater share of revenue, it will have to take on its trade partners at their own game of large-scale minerals processing and advanced manufacturing.
The federal government is preparing a national strategy to do just that, and has promised concessional loans for the sector.
Last week, it announced a "growth centre" to help businesses seeking to locally manufacture clean energy technologies.
But within this emerging industry, there's concern that Australia is moving too slowly.
"Everyone in this process including us is saying we need to make this go faster," says Steve McCartney, WA state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU WA).
Adam Best, a principal research scientist at the CSIRO, says the rest of the world is moving faster than Australia.
"The opportunity is a short window, in my view.
"Once these [battery-making] facilities are established [overseas], you won't move them."