Lithium Australia (LIT) has started producing lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cathode material from its re-commissioned pilot facility in Brisbane.
The milestone comes 10 months after Perth-based LIT took the first steps to acquire the facility from battery cathode developer Very Small Particle Company— since renamed as VSPC.
Delivery of cathode material samples to international battery makers are scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of this year, LIT said.
“The quality and consistency of VSPC’s pilot-production materials are currently being verified via the company’s advanced, on-site electrochemical testing facilities, the capabilities of which include the ability to assemble and test lithium-ion coin and pouch cells,” LIT said.
LIT managing director Adrian Griffin said VSPC gives the company “the opportunity to manufacture the world’s most advanced cathode materials— at the high-margin end of the battery metals market”.
In addition, Griffin said VSPC would allow the company to capitalise on waste batteries as a feed source. “We anticipate immense pressure on the supply of energy metals such as lithium and cobalt in the near future.”
“The ability to produce cathode powders from these materials, while also controlling particle size, is clearly advantageous,” Griffin added.
BEST Battery Briefing reported earlier this year that LIT had been awarded a licence to search for lithium at the Sadisdorf project in eastern Germany.
LIT said the move would be a spur to creating a “central processing hub in Europe” to support electric vehicle battery production.
