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Originally posted by bluesamurai:
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Within the State’s Strategy and Framework is the goal of developing sovereign capability in processing critical minerals to diversify the global supply chain.Our refinery represents the first large investment in cobalt sulphate capacity built outside of China for around three decades.Furthermore, given the current economic climate in which a number of existing producers are struggling, the State Government is keen to support new projects that will provide jobs as well as battery raw materials.The proposed refinery site location in Kwinana Industrial Area is owned and operated by your partner in the project, Iwatani Australia. What are the key benefits of co-locating on their existing site?Iwatani Australia has been operating the Doral Fused Materials plant since the 1990s. Partnering with an existing property owner on an operational site is highly desirable because of the ready access to power, utilities and infrastructure as well as favourable industrial zone policy settings and regulatory environment.The area itself also has the benefit of close access to reagent suppliers, access to an experienced workforce and proximity to Fremantle Port.These advantages will accelerate the development timeline relative to a more greenfield project.Construction should begin by the end of this year and first production in late 2025.What capacity are you expecting the refinery to have in 2025?Stage One will have a capacity of 3,000 tonnes of cobalt sulphate and 1,000 tonnes of nickel sulphate, metal equivalent. That would immediately place us as one of the largest producers of battery-grade cobalt sulphate in the world – outside of China.Stage Two, which will bring in feedstock from the Broken Hill Cobalt Project, will essentially double the initial capacity and propel Australia into a top-three global cobalt producer. QUOTE from article in Proactive Investors today
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ConclusionThe global shift from a world run on fossil fuels, to one powered by renewable energies and electrification, means an even greater need for the minerals that go into these new technologies.The World Bank projects the need for a 500 percent increase in graphite, cobalt, and lithium production by 2050. In 2022, one estimate claimed that approximately 700 million metric tons of copper would be needed over the next 22 years to reach sustainable economic growth targets—roughly the equivalent to what has been mined over the past 5,000 years of human history. Still other projections find that more than 300 new mines extracting critical minerals will be needed by the year 2030 to prevent a crippling supply shortage… QUOTE The market will be robust in the longterm IMO https://aheadoftheherd.com/how-governments-can-help-accelerate-the-mining-of-critical-minerals-and-the-obstacles-in-the-way-richard-mills/
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