Tianqi Lithium Kwinana
Australia’s first fully-automated lithium hydroxide processing plant is located at the Kwinana Industrial strip, in Western Australia, 20 mins (25km) from the port city of Fremantle and two and a half hours (250km) from the Greenbushes mine, the world’s largest and highest-grade source of hardrock lithium.
The plant is also the first to produce lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM), or battery grade lithium, in commercial quantities.
It is owned by Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia, a joint venture between Tianqi Lithium Corporation (51%), one of the world's top producers of lithium chemicals for electric vehicle batteries, and Australian miner, IGO Limited (49%).
TLEA is also has a 51% stake in the Greenbushes Lithium Mine.
Lithium hydroxide produced at the Kwinana Plant will be containerised and exported from the Port of Fremantle to customers around the globe.
It is a key component in electric vehicle high nickel battery cathode chemistry, delivering higher energy density and longer driving distances between charges. Lithium hydroxide is a lithium-based compound derived from spodumene, a lithium-bearing pegmatite mineral. Spodumene is sourced directly from the Greenbushes mine.
