Interestingly not many people know that Australia is the world’s largest producer of lithium, even those familiar with the compound used in batteries and electric vehicles. Australia’s lithium story is quite recent, beginning around 2009 for extracting lithium in areas previously mined for gold, tin, and tantalum.
Mining lithium in Australia requires significant investment, expertise, and contracts for getting the product to market. The boom and bust of the global lithium market has meant dramatic upheavals in lithium mining in Australia, from expansion to rapid contraction, with mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures with larger foreign companies.
Most Australian lithium is exported directly to China for processing and then for manufacturing for renewables and EVs, although there is a shift towards local processing of lithium in Western Australia.
To know more, see my latest publication on the topic, “Australian Critical Raw Materials in the Global Security–Sustainability Nexus”.
