Australia's first lithium sulphate plant to supply UK

Alkemy Capital Investments plc will build a lithium sulphate plant at Port Hedland, Australia’s largest export port located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The plant will feed the Tees Valley Lithium Ltd (TVL) lithium hydroxide plant at the Wilton International Chemicals Park, Teesside, UK. This plant is set to produce 24,000 tpa of battery-grade lithium hydroxide from 2024.

The Pilbara is a major spodumene producing region and centrally located near existing and planned spodumene producers in Australia. The Port Hedland LSM plant will offer Australian spodumene producers mid-stream processing options with direct access to the premium European battery market.

The Port Hedland LSM plant, together with TVL’s planned LHM processing facility at the Wilton International Chemicals Park in Teesside, UK, will deliver a low carbon, de-risked lithum supply chain between Western Australian spodumene producers and the burgeoning European lithium battery cell market. Port Hedland LSM will export a higher-grade, lower-volume product resulting in less tonnage shipped and less transport carbon emissions.