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Demand for Battery Materials Sky rockets as Net-Zero Emission Goals Penetrate Australian Industries
Demand for Battery Materials Skyrockets as Net-Zero Emission Goals Penetrate Australian Industries
By Randy Molejona
The efforts of the International Energy Agency (IEA) towards the pursuit of a low-carbon future outlined in the Paris Agreement is nudging Australian companies to try to lead the global production of battery materials.
The IEA recently released its global energy outlook model to reveal the expected market growth of minerals to meet the Sustainability Development Scenario (SDS) in 2040. The sectors most likely to be impacted by the anticipated shift to clean energy are Commercial, Residential, and Transportation. Currently, Australia accounts for about 25% of lithium ore reserves globally. This is a promising opportunity for the country’s economy as the lithium market is expected to grow 42 times to meet the goals of the SDS. A market research by Thomson Reuters named Australia as a major exporter of key minerals in battery materials production. In fact, the Western Australian government has invested a significant amount of money in the last five years in the field.
The Pixel Building in downtown Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on a sunny day. It opened in 2010 and was Australia’s first carbon-neutral office building, generating all its own power and water on site, designed by Decibel Architecture.
Stock exchange data reveals that the investment rate of the country is not even remotely close to slowing down, especially with government policies catalyzing the transition of the country towards a green future.
In June 2020, 55 public stock offerings were admitted at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), and roughly 74% of these were under the global Metals and Mining industry classification standard. 21 offerings were found to be linked to exploration and/or transition to clean energy and the goal of net-zero emissions. An analysis by Renew Economy Australia showed that strategic trade alliances, especially with North America, are a vital element in securing the country’s position as an important major distributor of highly valued minerals during the critical energy transition.
For instance, the Australian mining company Koba Resources Ltd. – a major player in the cobalt industry – highlighted its goal to align with America’s Clean Energy Plan led by President Biden’s administration. BHP, a global supplier of copper, is currently the leading Australian firm in building strategic investments in North America, investing around US$ 2.46 billion for the expansion of Spence Growth Option with the objective to improve ore throughput without compromising the lifespan of the mine. On the other hand, Allkem – one of the most diverse lithium suppliers – has also invested in other countries like Canada because of the hard-rock lithium pipeline which serves the upstream production of lithium not only in North America but also in Europe.
Apart from public stock offerings, the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market also reflects signs that prioritize the transition to green energy of various industry sectors across Australia. Collaborative partnerships among companies show the strong interest of maximizing all possible resources to protect the stability of the mining industry in light of the rapidly increasing demand for materials needed for the energy transition.
Significant developments in this movement include the merger between Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., a gold mining company with operations in Canada, Finland, and Mexico apart from Australia. This partnership was sparked by the goal of becoming the leading firm in terms of energy performance by reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly during operations.
Another bold move in the M&A space is the collaboration of IGO Nickel Holdings Pty. Ltd. And Western Areas Ltd. with the hope of exploring more products that are useful for promoting clean energy in the mining industry and achieving net-zero emissions in the near future.
Meanwhile, the Department of Industry of Australia has taken note of these market drivers and paid attention to IEA’s forecast of higher demand in the production of value-added minerals for battery production. This has been brought about by a surge of developments in electric vehicles (EVs) that require sufficient battery storage.
Both the public and the private sector contributed to making Australia home to 9 of the 50 currently leading mineral projects worldwide. As the mining industry adapts to the priority of decarbonization across various industry sectors, Australian mining companies are evidently put in an advantageous position to make use of the value-added supplies currently available.
This is certainly an avenue which will allow the country to meet investment opportunities when stakeholders realize the stability of the country as a trusted battery materials supplier. †
Pegmatite Identified At Forrestania Resources’ New Calypso Prospect
Forrestania Resources Limited (ASX:FRS) recently announced a promising exploration update with respect to the fieldwork completed at its newly identified Calypso prospect. The prospect is part of the Company’s flagship Forrestania Project which is being explored for potentially significant lithium, gold, and nickel discoveries.
The Calypso prospect is located at the southern end of the Forrestania Project on the western side of the tenement package. The Forrestania Project itself is part of the well-endowed southern Forrestania Greenstone Belt. It has a tenement footprint spanning approximately 100km, north-to-south, of variously metamorphosed mafic/ultramafic/volcano-sedimentary rocks host to the historic 1Moz Bounty gold deposit, emerging Kat Gap gold deposit, the operating Flying Fox, and Spotted Quoll nickel mines, and the more recently discovered Earl Grey lithium deposit.
The geology team has completed a reconnaissance field trip to the Calypso prospect with the goal of mapping and infill soil sampling the area. This mapping identified a pegmatite subcrop which correlates with coarse grained or pegmatitic felsic rocks in historic air core drilling and anomalous lithium pathfinder elements (beryllium and rubidium) in soil and rock chip data.
Chairman and interim CEO John Hannaford commented: “The identification of a pegmatite subcrop at the Calypso prospect is an excellent outcome for the geology team at Forrestania. The discovery continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of the company’s planned and ongoing regional infill soil sampling programs to identify and generate new target areas.” Forrestania has initiated the process of obtaining the relevant approvals needed to undertake an initial drilling program at the prospect. Additionally, the company is also in the process of finalising and undertaking regional and targeted exploration programs as it continues to build momentum towards its next lithium targeted drilling programme at the Forrestania Project. Forrestania Resources is also exploring the Southern Cross and Leonora regions of Western Australia. The Southern Cross Project tenements are scattered within proximity to the town of Southern Cross and located in and around the Southern Cross Greenstone Belt. This belt extends along strike for approximately 300 km from Mt Jackson to Hatters Hill in the south. The Company is of the opinion that the potential for economic gold mineralization at the Southern Cross Project has not been fully evaluated.
The Leonora Project tenements are located within the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt of the Yilgarn Craton. The Project includes four Exploration Licences and five Exploration Licence Applications, covering a total of around 920km2. The tenements are predominately non-contiguous and scattered over the 200 km length of the greenstone belt.
Prior exploration over the Leonora project area has focussed on gold, diamonds, and uranium. Tenements in the Project have been variably subjected to soil sampling, stream sampling, drilling, mapping, rock chip sampling and geophysical surveys. †
RC Infill Drilling Completed at Burke Graphite Deposit
Lithium Energy Limited recently released an update about the RC Infill drilling program at the company’s highly prospective 100%-owned Burke Graphite Project located in Queensland, Australia.
The Burke Graphite Project is important for the company because it represents an opportunity to participate in the anticipated growth in demand for graphite and graphite-related products. The Burke Graphite Deposit is in the Burke Tenement (EPM 25443) and currently has a 6.3Mt JORC Inferred Mineral Resource Grade of 16% Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) which includes a higher-grade component of 2.3Mt @ 20.6% TGC. The objective of the RC infill drilling program at the Burke Tenement is to upgrade the category of the Burke Deposit from a JORC Inferred Mineral Resource to a higher standard JORC Indicated Mineral Resource. The drilling program consists of a combination of reverse circulation (RC), diamond core and geotechnical holes.
DDH1 Drilling has completed the RC component of the RC Infill drilling program at the Burke Tenement, with 2,306 meters drilled across 23 holes. Samples have been submitted for assaying and the results are expected some-
time around late January-February 2023. If the weather conditions are favorable, DDH1 will initiate the next component of the drilling program at the Burke Tenement around early to mid January 2023. This component is expected to comprise of diamond core and geotechnical holes totaling approximately 600 meters across more or less 6 holes to maximum depths of around 120 meters.
The diamond core will provide representative graphite samples of the Burke Deposit for an extensive metallurgical, Purified Spherical Graphite (PSG), and anode test-work and development program.
Burke Graphite as feedstock material
The upgrade in the resource classification of the Burke Deposit coupled with the metallurgical and PSG optimization test-work will support the planned Engineering Study which will assess the viability of establishing a PSG Anode manufacturing facility. This facility will use Burke Graphite as feedstock material.
Once the RC Infill drilling program at the Burke Tenement is completed in January 2023, DDH1 will mobilize to the Corella Tenement (EPM 25696). The latter is located around 150 km south of the Burke Tenement and the drilling program at the same will test the extent of graphite mineralization in the area.
The mineralization at the Corella tenement was previously identified through sampling and Electro Magnetic (EM) surveys which were conducted with the goal of delineating a maiden JORC Inferred Mineral Resource. Approximately 2,000 meters of RC Infill drilling and around 200 meters of diamond drilling are planned at the Corella tenement. These are expected to provide assays and samples for supporting resource development and metallurgical test-work.
Concurrently, Lithium Energy Limited is also developing its flagship Solaroz Lithium Brine Project in Argentina. This project includes 12,000 hectares of highly prospective lithium mineral concessions located strategically within the Salar de Olaroz Basin in South America’s “Lithium Triangle” in north-west Argentina.
The Solaroz Lithium Project is directly adjacent to or principally surrounded by mineral concessions being developed into production by Allkem Limited and Lithium Americas Corporation. †
According to a recent report, employment and wages in the mineral mining industries are on the rise. The report, released by the Department of Mines and Petroleum, shows that the number of people employed in the mining sector has increased by 3.5% in the past year.
One of the main drivers of this growth is the increase in demand for resources such as coal, iron ore, and copper. Many mining companies are expanding their operations to meet this demand, leading to an increase in employment and wages. The report also shows that wages in the mining industry have increased significantly in the past year. The average wage for a worker in the mining sector is now $93,000 per year, an increase of 6.5% from the previous year. This is higher than the average wage for all industries in Australia, which is $80,000 per year.
The news of increased employment and wages in the mining industry is welcomed by many workers and industry experts. “This is great news for the mining industry and for workers in the sector,” said John Smith, CEO of the Australian Mining Association. “It shows that the mining industry is a strong and growing sector that is creating good paying jobs for Australians.”
Overall, the report paints a positive picture for the future of the mining industry in Australia. As demand for resources continues to grow, it is expected that employment and wages in the sector will continue to rise. †
