Lithium Australia (LIT) has said it plans to resume production at its newly-acquired Brisbane pilot plant for the production of complex metal oxides/phosphates for cathode production in July.
LIT, which acquired the plant with its purchase of the Very Small Particle Company (VSPC) earlier this year, said on 18 April the acquisition had now been completed.
Materials developed by VSPC over the past 14 years are “critical components of lithium-ion batteries, the burgeoning consumption of which is driven by rapidly increasing demand for EVs and consumer electronics”, LIT said.
“The advanced battery materials being developed by VSPC are also applicable to green energy solutions, including as backup for sources of renewable energy,” LIT said.
The VSPC facility, which had been decommissioned, is a 2 to 4 tonnes-per-annum pilot plant, incorporating an integrated laboratory, coin-cell production facility and battery-testing equipment.
LIT’s managing director Adrian Griffin has said cathode technology developed by VSPC would allow the firm “to participate in the efficient production and total utilisation of Li-ion batteries”.
“Recycling closes the loop to create a circular energy economy,” Griffin said. “At present, the missing link is the reintroduction of recovered metals into the global lithium supply chain.”
Griffin said cathode technology developed by VSPC “provides that missing link”.
