PLS has opened Australia’s first mine-site lithium mid-stream processing facility at its Pilgangoora Operation in Western Australia, with Western Australia Premier, Hon. Roger Prepare dinner MLA, formally chopping the ribbon.
The Mid-Stream Demonstration Plant Challenge (Demonstration Plant) represents a big milestone in PLS’ technique to maneuver additional down the battery supplies worth chain and seize better worth from its lithium assets by processing extra materials in Australia, quite than exporting it for additional processing.
The demo plant makes use of electrical calcination in a world-first utility for major lithium processing, changing spodumene focus produced at Pilgangoora into lithium phosphate, an intermediate product used within the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries.
The challenge has now entered commissioning and operational validation, with first product anticipated within the September quarter of 2026.
As soon as totally operational, the demonstration plant is designed to course of roughly 27,000 t of spodumene focus from Pilgangoora annually and produce roughly 3,000 t of lithium phosphate.
Producing an intermediate lithium product on website reduces the quantity of fabric shipped abroad for additional processing. This helps extra jobs, funding and downstream trade growth in Western Australia, PLS says.
Building supported greater than 100 jobs, and the demonstration plant is anticipated to create round 40 ongoing roles, with potential for additional employment if the know-how is commercialised at a bigger scale.
PLS Managing Director and CEO, Dale Henderson, stated the opening marked an necessary milestone within the firm’s technique to discover alternatives additional alongside the lithium worth chain.
“At present marks the completion of years of growth, development and collaboration, and the start of the following section of the challenge,” Henderson stated. “Australia is without doubt one of the world’s main producers of laborious rock lithium, nonetheless most spodumene focus continues to be exported for additional processing.
“The Mid-Stream Demonstration Plant has been developed to check whether or not better worth will be captured on the useful resource by producing a higher-value lithium product on the mine website. Building is now full and our focus turns to commissioning, operational efficiency and business validation.
“If the know-how performs and the product is embraced by the market, it creates a significant strategic choice for PLS.
“We thank the Australian Authorities, ARENA and the Western Australian Authorities for his or her continued help. Their monetary backing has helped deliver the Demonstration Plant to this necessary milestone and recognises its potential to help lower-emissions processing and elevated onshore worth seize in Australia’s important minerals sector.”
The demonstration plant acquired important help from each the Australian and Western Australian Governments, reflecting its potential contribution to lower-emissions processing and elevated onshore value-add in Australia’s important minerals sector.
This included as much as A$38.1 million ($27.2 million) in grant funding from the Australian Renewable Power Company (ARENA) underneath its Advancing Renewables Program to help working prices in the course of the validation section. Building was supported by A$20 million from the Australian Authorities’s Fashionable Manufacturing Initiative and A$15 million from the Western Australian Authorities’s Funding Attraction Fund.
Lithium phosphate produced throughout commissioning and ramp-up shall be provided to Ningbo Ronbay New Power Know-how Co. Ltd (Ronbay), a number one international cathode supplies producer, underneath an current offtake settlement. This offers a direct pathway to guage product efficiency and market acceptance with a number one participant within the battery supplies provide chain.
The plant makes use of electrical flash calcination know-how developed by Australian know-how firm Calix Restricted, which continues to supply technical help to the challenge.
When powered by renewable electrical energy, electrical calcination removes fossil fuels from the normal calcination stage of laborious rock lithium processing, serving to cut back power-related emissions depth. Producing a higher-value intermediate product on the mine website additionally has the potential to cut back transportation and downstream processing emissions throughout the worth chain.
The plant shall be powered by Pilgangoora’s built-in on-site vitality system, which mixes photo voltaic era and battery storage with gas-fired era, as a part of PLS’ broader energy technique.
Commissioning and ramp-up will progress in a staged and managed method by means of the 2027 monetary 12 months. The validation program will assess plant efficiency, product high quality, working effectivity, emissions discount potential and market acceptance, informing future business pathways for the know-how.
