Welcome to Lithium Valley, Perth, Western Australia… the world’s centre of battery metal mining and manufacturing excellence…. Well, that’s the dream, at least.
Story: A coming surge in demand for battery metals and products could spark a new mining and manufacturing boom for Western Australia.
It’s a prospect that could be worth $56 billion a year to the local economy and tens of thousands of new jobs.
Just as northern California – home to the tech giants of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple – is known as Silicon Valley; Western Australia could become, according to some experts, the hub for the world’s new giants in battery materials and technology. They’re calling it Lithium Valley
If executed correctly, the report argues, the potential opportunity for Western Australia could lead to 100,000 new jobs and significant new prosperity.
The potential boom surrounds minerals needed for high-tech consumer products, including a variety of rare earth minerals, lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, tin, copper, manganese as well as vanadium, for industrial scale applications.
Boom! Here comes the next mining boom? Projected demand for various metals in the next decade +
“We are the only place in the world that has them all,” Curtin University professor of sustainability Peter Newman said.
“Not only do we have the resources, we also have the technological capability and skilled workforce to service this emerging industry.
“The world needs us and we can create ‘Lithium Valley’ to service this need,” he said.
In the report, ‘Lithium Valley: Establishing the Case for Energy Metals and Battery Manufacturing in Western Australia’, a vision is set to capitalise on a minerals boom like never before.
It details how Perth should become the global centre of excellence and leadership. From mining, to processing and manufacturing high-end battery products, for export around the world. Sustainable energy, electric cars and electronics
As the world heads toward more sustainable sources of energy, the technology required to meet the demand will see significant investment in mining resources.
Tesla in the showroom.
The coming boom is partly driven by the growth of electric vehicles (EVs), as well as electronic devices like smartphones, laptops, apparel and home appliances.
A Vanadium Redox Flow Battery, invented by Australian scientists. This battery is designed for larger energy storage. (Image from VSun Energy, a Perth based company, owned by Australian Vanadium Limited).
Then there is the trend toward off-grid home power systems and industrial scale grid storage, to handle the ebbs and flows of power from renewable energy sources, like wind and solar. For this, Vanadium is set to be a hot commodity.
Vanadium price moves. Metal needed to build large VRB batteries for renewable energy storage.
According to The Economist, the flow batteries are too bulky for use in electric vehicles, but ideal for stationary storage. China’s government is planning on building huge 100 megawatt (MW) VRBs across the country to help manage the fluctuations of wind and solar energy.
Rare earth metals are also making a comeback, with China holding much of the known resources, Australian rare sources are coming into play.
Minerals like Cobalt, required to make a lithium-ion batteries, have skyrocketed in the last 18-months.
The price of lithium itself has also increased massively, with a number of new mines opening up in Australia in the last year alone, with many more on the way. Western Australia is tipped to supply half of the world’s raw lithium needs by next decade.
Demand for graphite, another mineral required for battery production, is also set to increase 500% in the next few years, the annual Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie heard last year.
Lithium Valley: Technology leading to demand for a variety of minerals, all here in WA. Global demand for battery metals ready to surge dramatically
In the last year alone, European nations like France, Britain and Norway say they will ban fossil-fuel cars in the coming years.
An EV recharge station in Perth, by RAC.
Companies like Volvo and have also said they will soon abandon the production of combustion engine cars, producing only electric or hybrid cars by 2021, an extraordinary step.
European car manufacturers are moving rapidly away from fossil fuels.
In July BMW said it would dedicate 25% of its total production to electric cars by 2025, signing a $5 billion deal with a Chinese battery manufacturer.
The pace of action in the space is happening so fast, politicians and business leaders will need to act fast to secure deals here in WA.
“For some of the metals, it’s a complete game changer,” said Simona Gambarini, a commodities economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London told Canadian media
“We’ve already seen a big impact on some metals like cobalt and lithium, which have soared over the past couple of years.”
Lithium Valley : Minerals in the ground, ready to go.
Perth sustainability experts release the report ‘Lithium Valley: Establishing the Case for Energy Metals and Battery Manufacturing in Western Australia‘
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