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MELBOURNE, Aug 2 - Rio Tinto Ltd is set to ship a
pilot lithium processing plant to Serbia from Melbourne in the
coming weeks, the culmination of a decade's research to catapult
the world's largest iron ore miner into battery minerals.
The work, undertaken at a science hub on the outskirts of
Melbourne, has found a way to economically extract lithium from
jadarite, a mineral that has only been found in a Serbian
valley.
Rio last week hit the go button on the $2.4 billion project
that will diversify the producer of iron ore, copper, aluminium
and speciality minerals into a top ten lithium producer, just as
demand from electric vehicle makers booms.
"It’s not a huge mine but from a lithium perspective, it’s
going to be the largest producer in Europe for at least ten
years and bring lithium to the market at scale," Sinead Kaufman,
Chief Executive of Rio's Minerals division, told reporters.
Four 40-foot shipping containers of equipment will leave in
coming weeks before a nine-week sail and onward river journey.
Construction is expected to begin early next year, subject
to environmental approvals, with the first production from 2026.
The mine is expected to produce enough lithium to power one
million electric vehicles. It will also produce boric acid, used
in ceramics and batteries, and sodium sulphate, used in
detergents.
Major automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen
and leader Tesla Inc, are seeking to
diversify supply chains away from dominant producer China.
"We haven’t committed to any orders of yet, but we have
certainly seen a lot of interest," Kaufman said.
Rio plans a material increase in research and development
beyond the $260 million it spends a year, Jared Osborne, general
manager of the R&D facility, said, as it accelerates ways to
harness renewable energy to sustainably produce materials.
It is already researching how to make carbon-free aluminium
economically in Canada and has partnerships with steelmakers,
including China Baowu Steel Group, to produce green steel.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; editing by Barbara Lewis)
