RE: AUX20 Jul 2018 05:04
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because so much is now automated, and the costs are associated with energy, and we have a lot of it," he said.
WA has abundant renewable resources, including wind, solar and wave energy, that could provide cheap, abundant energy for the manufacturing sector, backed up by its massive gas resources.
"We have a wonderful opportunity to bring all this together and take a holistic view," Klinken said.
"If we look at the whole package, and not just silos, we can set the state up for a very bright future."
Key step
A key step in developing the downstream space is the federal government's planned Future Batteries Industries Co-operative Research Centre, which WA is lobbying hard to win.
WA Mines Minister Bill Johnston said Perth was "the only logical place for" the CRC given the Greenbushes mine already supplied about 40% of all hard-rock lithium.
He said the government was keen to work with industry to capture the widest range of benefits from the emerging sector.
"The government has put $6 million into that and I note that it has been matched by $27 million from the private sector, so we have had a huge success in driving commitments to that CRC, and now we need the Commonwealth government support on that and add their $25 million to establish the CRC in Perth and drive the innovation that we need," Johnston said.
A preliminary decision on the CRC is expected in October or November, with a final decision expected by March 2019.
Prof Klinken said the CRC would be vital to developing new intellectual properties, however, if the state wanted to go downstream it should consider doing deals with IP holders in the industry so it could push into cathode and anode production, and possibly even battery manufacturing, or beyond.
McKinsey & Co analyst Prabham Sharma said lithium demand was expected to "explode", soaring three to four times out to 2025, to 630,000t-860,000t of concentrates with key economies such as China, India, the UK and France mandating a switch to electric vehicles and increasing demand for battery storage.
Sharma said WA was well placed to capitalise on the production of lithium hydroxide, which was replacing lithium carbonate as the most popular intermediate product.
"The supply of lithium hydroxide based on existing, upcoming and announced capacity will fall short of demand, and that is the opportunity," he said.
While spodumene is more costly to recover from the ground than brine, it converts to hydroxide more easily, delivering a 15% cost benefit - which puts WA in the game.
Sharma also noted WA had a security advantage because battery producers were more interested in the reliability of the supply chain and quality of product more than the cost, which is only a small part of the cost of a battery.
Support
Johnson, Beazley and Sharma all agreed there was "no question" the industry would need federal government support to succeed.
"We in WA have
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